


Absolute Magnitude

by groolover



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: slythindor100, HP: EWE, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-02
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-04 12:08:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 22,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5333555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/groolover/pseuds/groolover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Draco has been living abroad for many years, and only visits England occasionally to see his parents. This Christmas is the first time he's been back since they moved to North Yorkshire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Light Pollution

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.  
>  **Author's Notes:** I really have no business starting this when I still haven't finished the one I was writing two years ago! But here goes… (Harry isn't in this chapter, but he will appear soon enough.)
> 
> Prompt for 1st December: [House lit up with Christmas lights](https://esscentualalchemy.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/christmas-house.jpg)

"Just look at all those lights," muttered Draco to himself. "Ridiculous. What a waste of energy. And the stars are invisible!"

He shook his head, put his Portkey (an empty coffee jar) back in his pocket, and stepped carefully onto the slippery pavement. There was a surprising amount of snow on the ground, and more was falling; Draco found himself shivering before he'd got very far. 

It was hard to make out the numbers of most of the houses; their owners seemed to have illuminated everything _but_ the house numbers. However, Draco eventually found the house he was looking for. It was the last one in the lane, and had no visible Christmas lights, but there was a reassuring glow behind the curtains.

The door opened as he walked up the short path, and then his mother was there. "Draco, my darling! Where on earth have you been? I've been looking out for you for hours. Come in, come in. You must be freezing." She gathered him in a hug before taking his hand and leading him into the house.

"Sorry," said Draco, trying to hide his worry at how much weight she'd lost since the last time he'd seen her. Surely she hadn't been that thin in the summer? "That Portkey office in Naples is a nightmare. They only had two staff working, and the place was packed. I was lucky to get away with only a three-hour delay."

"You didn't have any trouble, though? You know… more trouble than everyone else, I mean?" 

"Oh, no, don't worry about that – no-one recognises our name in Italy, especially after all this time. Even when I first moved there I hardly ever encountered anyone who treated me differently."

"I do miss our villa in Tuscany, I must say," said Narcissa. "But we've grown used to having to stay in England. And it's a lot better now we've moved north – I love it up here. I can't wait to show you round. But that will have to wait till tomorrow. Now, come and say hello to your father. Are you hungry?"

"Starving, actually," said Draco. "I had lunch before I left Sorrento, but I didn't leave the Portkey office in Naples because I didn't want to miss my departure slot."

"Well, don't worry, there's plenty of food, although we did go ahead and eat ours without you," said Narcissa. She opened a door leading off the hallway, and ushered Draco into a room which appeared to be the kitchen. Lucius was seated at the table, but he stood up to shake hands with Draco. 

"Oh, don't be ridiculous, Lucius," said Narcissa, pushing Draco towards him. "Give your son a hug. You've not seen him for six months!"

Draco and Lucius rolled their eyes at each other and obeyed, smiling. Lucius, too, felt a bit skinnier than Draco remembered, but he looked healthy enough otherwise. His hair (currently in a neat plait) had been snow-white for Draco's entire lifetime, but his face had acquired a few more wrinkles over the years; Draco suddenly wondered how many of those were due to age and how many due to the fact that his father smiled a lot more than he used to.

"I was about to ask whether you'd had a good trip, but the fact that you're three hours late suggests otherwise," said Lucius. "Sit down and have some mushroom soup, while I heat up the pie."

"I know you've been cooking for yourselves ever since the war, but it still somehow surprises me every time I see evidence of it," said Draco as he sat down. "Did you make the soup yourself, or it is out of a tin?"

"Cheeky whippersnapper," said Lucius, pouring soup into a bowl and passing it to Draco. "I'm very good at soup, I'll have you know. I made this one from scratch. And your mother made the pie."

"I'm very impressed. The soup is delicious," Draco told him. "Now, tell me all your news while I eat."


	2. Green Flash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
> 
>  **Author's Notes:** The waterfall mentioned in this chapter is real: [see it here](http://www.hardrawforce.com/waterfall.html).
> 
>  **Prompt for 2nd December:** [Owl flying in the snow](https://alexmody.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/20090219_0363.jpg)

The next morning, Draco was woken by the pleasant smell of bacon wafting up the stairs. He lay in bed for a few more minutes, taking in his unfamiliar surroundings. The bedroom was tiny, containing little more than a double bed, wardrobe and bedside table. The curtains were open; he realised he hadn't closed them when he'd gone to bed, partly because the room was so dark anyway, but mainly because he'd been too tired to do anything other than pull off his clothes and collapse. 

The sky outside was totally white, and on closer inspection Draco realised that snow was falling quite heavily. This got him out of bed; he went to the window and stared out in delight. The world was white as far as the eye could see, and the view was of an unspoiled countryside with hills in the far distance. No buildings were visible; just open moorland, with the occasional clump of trees. 

Draco shook himself and got dressed before looking for a bathroom. This, too, was tiny – possibly the smallest bathroom Draco had ever used – with a shower over the bath and a sink crammed in next to the toilet. The window was slightly ajar, and a sudden gust of cold air hurried Draco out of the room and downstairs.

" _There_ you are," said Narcissa, when he entered the kitchen. "Did you sleep well?" She poured him a mug of coffee.

"The best I've slept in a long time," Draco told her, truthfully. "What time is it?"

"Bacon time," said Lucius, who was at the stove tending to a frying pan. "Also known as half past eleven, on this occasion. You slept for twelve hours – you must have needed it."

"I didn't realise I was so tired, but I feel amazing now," said Draco. "I hope you haven't been waiting for me before you could eat? You should have woken me."

"Nonsense," said Narcissa. "You're on holiday. And we've already had our first breakfast. Let's call this brunch."

"Bacon's up," said Lucius, putting two bacon sandwiches on Draco's plate. "Get that inside you. Then we can show you the rest of the house – which will take about thirty seconds – and then… well, what do you want to do?"

*********

An hour later, the three Malfoys bundled themselves up in coats, scarves, jumpers, gloves and hats, and set off tor a walk . The tour of the house had indeed been quick: two rooms downstairs (living room and kitchen) and two bedrooms upstairs, one either side of the minuscule bathroom.

"Do you like living here, then?" asked Draco, as they trudged along the snowy lane.

"The house or the area?" asked Narcissa. "Although, actually the answer's the same either way. We're both slightly surprised to find that we love it. In hindsight, we should have moved out of the Manor years ago. It was much too big for us to keep up, especially since we're not allowed to have house-elves. And it was far too full of bad memories. I feel so much lighter, not being there any more."

"And this area is very peaceful," added Lucius. "The nearest station is miles away, and there isn't that much traffic. The people are very friendly if you approach them, but they don't bother you if you don't. We only came here because it was cheap, but it's proved to be a good decision."

Draco realised that his parents' house was right on the edge of the village; the open landscape that he had seen from his window stretched away to the north, but in the other direction it was only a few minutes before they were walking past an church, and then a tea room and a pub. The pub, it turned out, had a famous waterfall behind it, and Draco was impressed when his father turned out not only to have a pocket full of Muggle coins, but to be able to identify the correct coins for the three of them to pass through the turnstile.

The waterfall was breathtaking in more ways than one; the water thundered down a hundred-foot drop, creating a deafening din as it crashed to the rocks below, and the resultant spray was icy cold. 

"THERE'S A PATH THAT GOES RIGHT BEHIND THE WATERFALL," shouted Lucius. "BE CAREFUL NOT TO SLIP."

"APPARENTLY THEY HAVE A BRASS BAND CONTEST HERE EVERY YEAR," shouted Narcissa. "I CAN'T IMAGINE EVEN A BRASS BAND COULD BE HEARD OVER THIS NOISE. WHAT DO YOU THINK, DRACO?"

"I THINK IT'S AMAZING," Draco told her. "ALSO, LOOK AT THAT OWL!"

He pointed, but they'd all seen it. The owl appeared to be having a great time, looping around the waterfall in a spiral pattern. As they watched, it reached the bottom of the drop, skimmed along the pool, did a full circuit, and shot back up to the top to repeat the process.

By the time they'd walked all the way round the waterfall (and got unpleasantly damp when they were behind the water) the owl seemed to be tiring a little and, as they reached the exit to the pub, it flew away to the south. 

"Unusual to see an owl during the day, isn't it?" commented Draco. "Do you get them a lot round here?"

"Not at all," said Narcissa. "I think that's the first one I've seen since we've been in Yorkshire. I wonder if it was a wizarding owl?"

"I think it probably was," said Lucius. "I can't imagine a non-magical owl behaving like that. Well, or a magical one, actually, but it seems more possible somehow, don't you think?"

Draco nodded. "Where to next, then?" he asked.

"Hawes is about two miles further down the road," said Lucius. "It's the nearest… well, it calls itself a town, but it's really just a large village. Nice place, though."

"That's where the shops are," added Narcissa. "And Tuesday is market day. Oh, and there's a pleasant little café. We should pop in for coffee and cake."

The snow finally stopped falling while they walked along the road. It was fairly narrow, with no pavements, and on several occasions they had to press themselves against a hedge in order to let cars pass. By the time they reached the market town, they were pleasantly warm and out of breath, and eagerly anticipating sitting down for refreshments. 

The café was on the edge of what was clearly the market square, although the stalls were currently deserted. 

"Oh, brilliant, a greasy spoon!" said Draco when he saw it. "I haven't been in one of these in years."

"I'd never heard that term before we moved here," said Narcissa, "but yes, it is. It's good, though – not actually greasy at all."

Lucius opened the door, and they were immediately hit by a wave of warmth and chatter. The café was surprisingly full, given the relative lack of people in the square outside, and at first glance there didn't appear to be any empty tables.

"Good Lord," said Lucius. "Is that… Harry Potter?"


	3. Luminosity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
> 
>  **Author's Notes:** I was _so_ tempted to start this part with it NOT being Harry… but that would delay the story a bit, so I didn't :-)
> 
>  **Prompt for 3rd December:** [Fireplace with welcoming flames](http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1494304/thumbs/o-FIREPLACE-570.jpg)

Draco followed his father's gaze. Most of the café's customers appeared to be either hikers or cyclists, judging by their clothing, but there was indeed a table in the back corner of the room that was occupied by a dark-haired man – of roughly Draco's age – and a red-headed teenager. They weren't talking; the man was busy eating a large plate of beans on toast, and the teenager was staring moodily into his steaming mug. 

"Bloody hell, it does look like him," said Draco quietly. "When was the last time you saw him? The trial? It definitely was, for me."

"Us too," said Narcissa. "So that was, what, seventeen years ago? I would have thought he might have got some different glasses by now. But that definitely looks like him."

"We should go and say hello," said Lucius. His wife and son whirled round to look at him in surprise, but he was already striding over to the corner, so they followed.

As they reached the table, the man looked up, and paused with his fork halfway to his mouth. He stared at Lucius for a moment, then put down the fork before speaking. 

"Lucius Malfoy," he said. HIs face was expressionless, and his voice gave no clues about what he might have been thinking. "Fancy seeing you here. I assume it's a wildly improbable coincidence? You can't actually have been looking for me?"

Draco and Narcissa moved slightly closer to Lucius, and when Harry – for it clearly _was_ Harry (Draco would never forget that voice) – saw them, his eyebrows did twitch slightly before his face regained its controlled mask. 

"Believe me, we're just as surprised as you are," said Lucius. "Narcissa and I moved to this area recently, and Draco is visiting us. We've been for a walk and came in here for coffee and cake. In fact… are these seats taken? There are no empty tables… would you mind if we joined you? We are all very well-behaved these days, I can assure you. But, given our history, we would completely understand if you'd prefer us to leave."

Harry stared for a few more seconds, and then his face broke into a grin. "No, please stay," he said. "The past can stay in the past as far as I'm concerned. And you already seem much more pleasant than the Lucius Malfoy I used to know, so I'm prepared to believe you've changed. Come on, sit down, all of you. Budge up, Teddy."

Narcissa gasped. "Teddy? Is this…"

The teenager, who had been watching the exchange with interest, looked at Harry. "Teddy, this is Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy and their son Draco," Harry told him. "Lucius, Narcissa, Draco: this is Teddy Lupin. He's my godson and… well, he's your sister's grandson, Narcissa. So I suppose that would make him some sort of cousin of Draco's… second cousin, maybe? I always get muddled about that stuff."

Narcissa's eyes had filled with tears and she seemed unable to speak. Lucius took her hand and squeezed it, before holding his hand out to Teddy, who shook it. "Teddy, we are delighted to finally meet you," Lucius said. "It has been one of my biggest regrets that my past mistakes have caused us to be estranged from what little family we have left. I am sure you will have been told all about the terrible things we did; everything you have heard is, I am ashamed to say, probably true. However, we were given a second chance at life by Mr Potter here, and we have tried very hard not to waste it. Mr Potter, I never got the chance to thank you for what you said at our trials. I was fully expecting to be given the Dementor's Kiss, and I believe that would have happened without your intercession."

Harry looked somewhat embarrassed at this. "Please, call me Harry," he said. "And, you are very welcome."

"Harry's often told me that he wouldn't have beaten Voldemort without what Draco and Narcissa did to help him," said Teddy. "And that, although Lucius didn't help, he's still Draco's father, and Harry didn't want to be the one to split the family up."

Lucius held out his hand to Harry, who grasped it firmly. The two men locked gazes for a moment, and then the solemn mood evaporated and the three Malfoys sat down, with Narcissa giving both Teddy and Harry a hug before doing so; Draco followed her with handshakes.

Draco, in fact, felt oddly lost for words. After a brief bit of introspection, he realised that this was because he wanted the first thing he said to Harry in seventeen years to be somehow memorable. He laughed at the ridiculousness of this, and Harry glanced at him quizzically.

"I carried a watermelon," said Draco's mouth, with very little input from his brain; this made him laugh even more. 

"I think my son has finally gone totally insane," said Lucius. "It does run in the family, you know. Maybe coffee and cake will help. Can I get you two gentlemen anything?"

Harry and Teddy both shook their heads, looking a bit bemused by Draco's giggling. 

"I'll go and see what cake they've got," said Lucius.

"Oh, you know what sort of things Draco and I like," said Narcissa. "Surprise us."

Lucius nodded and went over to the counter; Harry watched him the whole way.

"I can see that he's obviously changed, but it's still hard to believe," he said. "I mean, here we are in a Muggle café, and he doesn't seem out of place at all. He's even got Muggle money! I never would have dreamed this was possible."

"He wasn't exaggerating when he said he'd tried very hard not to waste his new life," said Draco, finally managing to control his laughter. "He's a model citizen these days."

At that moment, however, Lucius returned to the table, empty-handed. "Disaster!" he proclaimed. "They've run out of cake! They're going to bake some more, but in the meantime they apologised profusely and suggested that if we don't want to wait we could go to the pub next door. They do good cakes, apparently, and they also have a real fire in their main lounge. Harry, please will you allow me to buy you a drink? And Teddy… I'm sorry, I don't actually know how old you are. Are you of age?"

"For a wizard, yes, but not for alcohol in a Muggle pub," said Teddy. "I'm seventeen. But I don't need a drink. I do like the idea of sitting by the fire – come on, Harry, can we, please?"

Harry stood up. "That would be lovely," he said. "Thank you. I'd love to sit down and hear what you've all been doing since the war. And I want to see if you can guess why Teddy and I are here in Hawes, actually – I'm willing to bet none of you will come even close to the right answer."

"Challenge accepted," said Draco, grinning, as they left the café.


	4. Asterism

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
> 
>  **Author's Notes:** This is the beer that's mentioned: [Theakston's Old Peculier](https://www.theakstons.co.uk/Ales/Old-Peculier/).
> 
>  **Prompt for 4th December:** [A toilet!](https://bplusmovieblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-part-1-544.png?w=590)

Ten minutes later, all five of them were ensconced in armchairs by the roaring fire in the Crown Hotel, and the pub table was crammed with drinks and huge slices of lemon drizzle cake. The men had all been persuaded to try Theakston's Old Peculier, despite Draco complaining that the brewery could at least have spelt it correctly; even Narcissa was sipping a half of the famous beer ("I won't know if I like it unless I try it, will I?"), while Teddy had decided to try the hot chocolate. 

Draco was determined to beat Harry's challenge. "You just wanted some peace and quiet in the countryside. Or to do some walking," was his first guess.

"No," said Harry. "Well, yes, but there are lots of places I could have done that. There's a reason we came here rather than anywhere else in England."

"You've taken up cycling."

"Good guess, but again there are other places that are equally good for that."

"You're on a beer pilgrimage."

"No."

"You're addicted to Wensleydale cheese."

"No."

"You wanted to see the waterfall."

"It's amazing, isn't it? But, no."

"I'm impressed, Draco," said Narcissa. "Have you been reading up about this area? You've named all the things Hawes is renowned for."

"Well, of course I have," said Draco. "You know I hate not knowing things. When you told me you'd bought a house here, I realised that although I knew where Yorkshire _was_ I didn't actually know much more about it than that. So I made sure I rectified that before I came."

"I had to do that too, if it's any consolation," Lucius admitted. "Not that there were any books in the Manor library that helped. But the internet is a wonderful thing, isn't it?"

Harry choked on his beer. "You've used the internet," he stated, when he regained control of his voice. "You – LUCIUS MALFOY – have a computer. Unless you went to a library to use one? No, if you had you could have looked in a book. You _have a computer_?"

"Well, of course," said Lucius mildly. "It _is_ 2015, you know. And I do need something to occupy my time, now that I'm no longer trying to bring down civilisation as we know it."

Harry stared at him for a moment, and then burst out laughing. "Fair point, well made," he said. "Although I'd love to actually see you using it. I still can't quite imagine it. I take it you use the insulo charm to get it to work?"

"Indeed," said Lucius. "I believe it was your friend Miss Granger who invented that? Such a brilliant young woman."

"That's not what you used to say about her when I was at school," Draco reminded him.

Harry opened his mouth to speak, but Narcissa beat him to it. "Please, let's not talk about the past, Draco," she said. "We said and did so many things that we sincerely regret, but now we are different people. And we're all getting along so well – let's not spoil it."

"Sorry, Mother, you're right," said Draco. He looked down at his beer, embarrassed.

"Hermione did do that, yes," said Harry, clearly deciding that this was the safest topic to pursue. "Mainly because she was so frustrated that she couldn't use a laptop apart from when she was at her parents' house. She was desperate to get the wizarding world online somehow, but the effect of magic on electrical stuff made that impossible. But that just made Hermione try harder."

"Anyway, you still haven't guessed," said Teddy. 

Draco smiled at him in relief, glad to get back to what they'd been talking about. "True," he said. "And, much as it pains me to admit it, I think you're going to have to tell us."

Harry and Teddy looked at each other triumphantly and grinned. "Astronomy," they chorused. 

"Astronomy?" said Draco, puzzled. "I hate to be the one to tell you this, Potter, but you just need it to be night-time for that, and they have night-time everywhere in the… Oh, I see. I bet it's a lot darker here, isn't it?"

"Remember that whole not talking about the past thing?" said Harry, but he was smiling. "Please don't call me Potter; it makes me think you're Malfoy, who I went to school with. You know, the one who hated me. Draco and Harry are different people."

"Fair enough… Harry," said Draco.

Harry nodded. "Anyway, you're right about the darkness," he said. "I've become fascinated by astronomy in the last few years, but it's hard to see anything in London with all the light pollution. It's a lot better at The Burrow – that's where I started noticing the stars in the first place. But for a while now I've wanted to spend a few nights somewhere _really_ dark. So I found a satellite photo of England at night, and looked to see where the blackest place is, and it's here. Well, not here exactly – a place called Fleet Moss, a few miles south of Hawes."

"It's amazing," said Teddy. "It's absolutely in the middle of nowhere. There's a road, so occasionally there are cars, but it's a road through the middle of nowhere, so there aren't _many_ cars. And the ground is so hilly that you only have to go a few yards from the road to get to somewhere where you can't see the road at all. You can't even see the lights of Hawes – they're behind a hill. And there are no other towns or villages anywhere near. There's one farm a mile or two away, but that's invisible from where we're staying. The only light you can see at all is a really dim glow on the western horizon – we think it's the M6 motorway."

"It's so dark that you literally can't see your hand in front of your face," added Harry. "So the night sky is absolutely spectacular."

"But you said you're staying there?" asked Narcissa. "Where are you staying, then?"

"We're camping!" said Teddy. "And not even in a _magical tent_." (He whispered the last two words.)

"It's bloody freezing, I can tell you," said Harry. "But definitely an experience. Teddy's already had enough, though – he wants to go home tomorrow."

"Only because I'm missing Victoire," protested Teddy. "I've enjoyed spending time with you, but I'm not as into astronomy as you are – you know that."

"He also hates not having an actual toilet," Harry told the Malfoys, grinning. "You should have seen his face when he realised he had to go outside the tent and pull his pants down!"

Teddy glared at him. "Yes, funny how you didn't mention that beforehand! Anyway, now you've reminded me, I'm going to the toilet while we're in here. Just think, they'll probably have a _flushing mechanism_. Luxury!" He stood up and went in search of the toilets.

"How long have you been up here, then?" asked Draco. 

"Oh, only a couple of days," said Harry. "Tonight will be our third night. Teddy's going to go back to London in the morning, but I want to stay for another day or two at least. I'm enjoying myself."

"But surely you'll feel very lonely, on your own in the middle of nowhere in total darkness?" said Narcissa. 

"Yes, that does sound a bit worrying," said Lucius. "I know you're… well, _Harry Potter_ , and have faced much more frightening things than that, but are you sure you'll be alright?"

"Erm… I think so," said Harry. "That aspect hadn't actually occurred to me, I must admit, but I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Or I could stay with you," Draco found himself saying.


	5. Dark Adaptation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
> 
>  **Author's Notes:** In case you were wondering: the titles of the chapters, which you may or may not have noticed are all astronomical terms, are _very_ loosely related to the events of the chapters. 
> 
> **Prompt: for 5th December:** [Card with mistletoe](https://img1.etsystatic.com/032/2/6116276/il_340x270.515633023_ot3x.jpg)

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Really?" he said. "You want to spend the night in a freezing cold field, with… well, with your nemesis?"

Draco laughed. "Nemesis? That's a fancy word for it!"

"It?!" retorted Harry. 

"I wondered when they'd get to this stage," muttered Narcissa to Lucius. "It took longer than I expected."

Draco rolled his eyes at his parents before turning back to Harry. "I suppose you may just possibly have been my nemesis at one stage," he said, "but your glory days are in the past. I haven't even heard your name mentioned in years, so you can't have been doing any more world-saving."

"Maybe I've been saving the world in _secret_ ," said Harry, grinning. "In any case, I haven't heard anything about you, either. So you probably haven't been doing anything newsworthy."

"Well, that depends on which news you read," Draco told him. "But I assure you I haven't been doing anything _evil_."

"It seems to me that you two would enjoy spending a few hours updating each other, now that you're actually on speaking terms," said Lucius. "But we would also welcome the opportunity to get to know Teddy."

"I think he'd like that," said Harry. "Why haven't you ever contacted him before, though? I know you knew he existed."

"We have talked about it many times," said Narcissa. "I'm afraid that we treated Dromeda so badly that I did not think she would allow us near Teddy. And when we were notified of her death and heard that Teddy was under your care, we thought there was even less chance that you would allow us to be involved."

Harry looked pained. "But of course I would have," he said. "Whatever you've done in the past, I would never deny a child the chance to know his family. I would have been careful about what access I allowed, at least at first, but I would never have stopped you meeting him."

"I see that now," said Narcissa. "I am sorry we misjudged you. We should have known better, given your history."

"Well, I suppose I'm at least partially to blame," said Harry. "Because I obviously knew _you_ existed, but I didn't get in touch about Teddy, and maybe I should have. But the truth is that Teddy never asked about it."

"Never asked about what?" wondered Teddy, returning to his seat. "Sorry I was so long. There's some mistletoe above the door to the toilets, and when I came back there was a couple snogging under it. I didn't like to interrupt them, so I waited till they stopped, but they were at it for ages."

"Now you see how we all feel when you and Victoire are together," Harry told him. "And, we were talking about why you and the Malfoys have never met before today."

Teddy looked uncomfortable. "I've always wanted to meet you," he said to them. "But mainly so I could make my own mind up. What Harry's told me about you gives me a bit of a different impression to what I've heard from everyone else. I trust Harry more than I trust anyone, but I wanted to see for myself."

"Why didn't you ask, then?" asked Harry. "You know I would have helped, don't you?"

"I know, but I thought they wouldn't want to meet _me_ ," said Teddy. "I thought they would have tried, if they'd wanted to."

"Oh, Teddy, we did want to," said Narcissa, reaching out to lay her hand on his arm. "But we didn't think anyone would let us."

"You're right, though – we should have tried," said Lucius. "I hope you'll let us make up for it now."

"I think we're all guilty of making assumptions," said Harry. "I'm sorry, Teddy – I should have realised what was happening. It's as much my fault as it is theirs."

Teddy shook his head, smiling. "You're all idiots," he stated. "But at least it's all sorted now. This is great!"

"Welcome to the family," said Draco, shaking his hand. 

"Excellent," said Lucius. "Now, may I make a suggestion? Why don't the two of you come and have dinner with us this evening? Then you can go to your campsite for your last night before Teddy goes home, and then Draco can go and join Harry there tomorrow."

Harry and Teddy looked at each other. "That sounds like a good plan. Thank you," said Harry. "Just give us the address and we'll be there. What time shall we arrive?"

"I assume you'll want to make the most of the night sky, so shall we say quite early? Six o'clock?" said Lucius, taking a pen from his pocket to write the address on a beer mat. "That will give us time to cook something proper. Is there anything you won't eat?"

"Nah, we're not fussy," said Harry. "You mean you're going to cook yourself? I presumed you'd have, well, you know." He smiled up at the barmaid, who was collecting the empty glasses from the table.

"Not since… we last saw you," said Narcissa. "That was one of the conditions. It took us a while to learn, but we both enjoy cooking now, although Lucius does more of it than I do. He makes a particularly excellent chicken and mushroom pie, which I suspect may well be making an appearance tonight."

"This, I have to see," said Harry. "Great, then. We'll see you later. Come on, Teddy, let's leave them to it." 

As they left, Narcissa took hold of Lucius's face in both hands and kissed him. 

"What was that for?" he asked, smiling.

"I'm happy!" she said. "I never thought this could happen. Now, let's get back home. I need to clean the whole house."


	6. Conjunction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
> 
>  **Author's Notes:** Lucius has taken over the story a bit so far. But in this chapter Harry and Draco are finally alone \o/
> 
>  **Prompt for 6th December:** [Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans](https://www.flickr.com/photos/alishapics09/4826689615)

By eight o'clock that evening, the table at the Malfoys' house was covered in empty plates and dishes.

"Can I offer anyone another helping of apple crumble?" said Lucius.

Draco groaned. "I think I might actually explode if I eat anything else," he said.

"Me too," said Harry. "I have to congratulate you, though. I would never have believed you would be able to cook at all, let alone as well as that. It was an amazing meal."

"Thank you," said Lucius. "What about you, Teddy? Do you have room for more?"

"Yes, please," said Teddy. "Don't look at me like that, Harry. I'm a growing boy. I always have room for good food."

Lucius stood up and went to the oven to retrieve the apple crumble dish. "We could give him those sweets too, Narcissa," he called. "Can you get them? They're at the back of the cupboard."

Narcissa reached into the cupboard by her chair, and produced a colourful packet of sweets, which she handed to Teddy. "I'm aware that you're seventeen and not seven," she said, "but we've had these for a while – they may as well get eaten."

"Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans!" exclaimed Teddy in delight. "I haven't had these in months. Thank you."

"Save them till after you've finished your pudding," said Harry. "Good grief, I feel old saying that. Anyway, I think I need some fresh air. I'm going to step outside for a minute. Draco, do you want to join me? I'll probably trip over something otherwise."

Draco raised his eyebrows, surprised, but nodded and stood up. Harry followed him out into the garden.

"I like it here," said Harry, after they'd stood in silence in the darkness for a couple of minutes. "I think I'd like to live somewhere like this." 

"Why don't you, then?"

"I've been wondering that all week. It never really occurred to me before that I don't actually have to stay in London. But I can do my work from anywhere. Maybe I _will_ move."

"You're not an Auror any more, then?"

"Well, yes and no. I still work for the Aurors, but I'm not an active one any more – I lead the training these days. That's mostly in London, of course, but, y'know, fireplaces and Apparition and such – I don't have to live there. What about you? What do you do these days?"

"I live in Sorrento, on the west coast of Italy. I'm an interpreter mainly, but I also do a bit of written translation."

"Between Italian and English, I assume?"

"Mainly, but I can speak French and Spanish almost as well, and that often comes in useful."

"Sounds like an interesting way to spend your time."

"It is. No two days are the same. But I'm curious – you could have asked me this inside. Why did we come out here?"

Draco couldn't see Harry's face in the darkness, but he could just about tell when Harry turned his head to look at him. "I really did need some fresh air – I felt quite light-headed," said Harry. "But also I thought it might be nice for your parents to talk to Teddy on their own." 

"That was thoughtful of you. They'll really appreciate it."

"He'll want to get to know _you_ as well, you know. But I think it'll be easier on him if he doesn't always have to deal with all three of you at the same time. I used to find that when I was first getting to know the Weasleys – they're all lovely, and I got on great with one or two of them at once, but there were often times when there'd be me and half the family, and I always felt a bit awkward saying anything, because when I did they'd all look at me. You know, like I was making a speech."

Draco stared at the dark blob beside him. "But what did you want them to do? _Not_ look at you when you spoke?"

"I know it sounds silly," said Harry. "It's much easier now, don't worry. But in those days I wasn't used to being with families. I don't think Teddy's like that – he's grown up spending lots of time with the Weasleys, after all – but it won't do any harm to ease him in gently."

"Makes sense," said Draco. "Now, listen – it was a spur-of-the-moment thing when I offered to come camping with you. I won't take it personally if you'd rather be on your own."

"No, I actually think it'll be fun," said Harry. "I kind of want to hear about what you've been up to in Italy when you _haven't_ been working. And there are the stars, of course. I bet you remember more of your astronomy lessons than I do – you can tell me the names of all the stars I've forgotten."

"Well, if you're sure," said Draco. "What do I need to bring?"

"Hmm… Just lots of warm clothes, really. You can use a warming charm, of course, but it's kind of fun to do it the natural way. Wear at least two layers over your entire body – especially socks and gloves. And a hat. Oh, and an entire change of clothing just in case you somehow get totally soaked."

"If that happens, I can always come back here, can't I?" 

"What, and spoil the excitement of being in the middle of nowhere? Of course you can, though, if you want to. Although, bear in mind that Apparition is quite hard when it's as dark as this. You might find it doesn't work." 

"Fair enough, I'll bring extra clothes," sighed Draco. "Anything else?"

"Let's see… I've got enough food and stuff for a while, so don't worry about that. A torch, though, with a red bulb. Or an ordinary torch with something red covering the bulb."

"Oh, to keep my eyes dark-adapted? That makes sense."

"Yeah. And I'd have said to bring a deckchair or something to sit on, but you can use Teddy's. You might want to bring your own sleeping bag and pillow, though – he's quite clean, but you know what teenage boys are like."

Draco shuddered. "Indeed. I don't actually own a sleeping bag, but I'll buy one tomorrow. It'll be a good investment in case I enjoy myself so much I end up wanting to do it again."

"I will make it my business to guarantee that," said Harry solemnly. "Now, speaking of keeping warm, it was a bad idea to come out here without a coat. Shall we go back inside?"

And he took Draco's hand.


	7. Averted Vision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
> 
>  **Author's Notes:** I see that everyone is describing this prompt as "plum pudding", but it would always be called Christmas pudding here in the UK.
> 
>  **Prompt for 7th December:** [Christmas pudding](http://www.rockymountainlodge.com/images/PlumPudding.jpg)

The following afternoon, Draco was sitting at the kitchen table, lost in thought. His father was reading in the living room, and his mother had gone upstairs for a nap. Draco had been shopping and now had a rucksack full of camping gear, which was propped up in the corner of the kitchen: along with a sleeping bag, blankets, pillow and torch, this contained mainly clothes, but there was also a selection of cakes donated by Lucius, who had said "well, if you don't eat them you can always bring them back, can't you?"

Draco, however, wasn't currently thinking about food, but about the way his whole body had seemed to wake up and pay attention when Harry had taken hold of his hand. The contact had lasted only a few seconds, until they were back inside the house, and neither of them had commented on it; when they stepped through the door, Harry had simply let go, but he'd looked back at Draco and smiled.

(Draco may or may not have gone to sleep still thinking about that smile.)

Now, Harry would be arriving in a few minutes to take Draco to the campsite, and Draco was trying to get his thoughts into some sort of order before that happened. He'd noticed how good Harry was looking – of course he had, he wasn't _blind_ – but until the hand-holding, it hadn't occurred to him that there might be a possibility of more than just ogling the man. 

It _had_ occurred to him, almost as soon as he started thinking about it, that it might have just been Harry being friendly. Maybe he was touchy-feely with _all_ his friends? But then there was that smile… Draco was convinced that the smile had been more than just friendly.

Well, _almost_ convinced.

He decided that the best thing to do would be to continue being polite and friendly, and not to assume anything more was going on until he was _absolutely_ convinced he wasn't imagining things. Of course, this strategy did imply that further information-gathering would be needed, and an overnight stargazing session would be the perfect opportunity for that. 

Draco was just considering whether or not it would be ridiculous if he went to check his appearance in the mirror when there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it," he called, smoothing down his hair as he hurried to the front of the house.

"Hello…" said Draco as he opened the door, but he forgot his second word when he saw Harry. There was that smile again – and, yes, Draco was (for the moment at least) _totally_ convinced it was an interested smile. Harry was wearing a dark green chunky woolly jumper and jeans, with a Gryffindor scarf wrapped round his neck. 

"Hi, Draco, he said. "Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be," said Draco. "Let me just get my bag. You do know those colours don't really go together, by the way?"

"Oh, I don't know. Now we're not at school any more, I'm often surprised at how well Gryffindor and Slytherin go together."

Draco, who had been turning to go back to the kitchen, whipped his head round to look at Harry, who laughed.

"Well, look at us, for example," he said. "If we'd told anyone we were at school with that one day we'd go off to spend the night camping together, they'd assume one of us was planning to kill the other. Of course, it may still come to that, but I'm hoping not."

"Father has donated a bag of cakes to our excursion; I suspect that's his way of trying to make you trust us," said Draco, ruthlessly shoving his galloping thoughts to the back of his mind. "I think there's even a Christmas pudding in there."

"Excellent," said Harry. "I mean, I do trust you anyway – you haven't given me any reason not to – and I have got food, but I'd never say no to cake. Anyway, shall we get going? Not that there's much to see at the campsite, but I think it would be useful if you saw it in daylight before you spend the night there."

Draco nodded and picked up his rucksack. "Mother! Father! We're off now," he called, rejoining Harry at the front door. 

"Bye, darling. Have a lovely time," said Narcissa, coming down the stairs. "Oh, hello, Harry."

"Are you sure you've got enough food?" asked Lucius, sticking his head out of the living room. "I could always make some more…"

"We're fine, Father," interrupted Draco. "That Christmas pudding alone will fill us up till tomorrow, and Harry's already got food anyway."

Harry nodded. "I promise to look after him," he said solemnly, but with a twinkle in his eye. He opened the door and stepped out; Draco waved to his parents and followed.

"Are you OK to side-along with me?" said Harry, as Draco closed the door. 

Draco nodded, and prepared himself for more hand-holding, but Harry surprised him again by enveloping him in a hug.

"This is nice, isn't it?" whispered Harry into Draco's ear, as the world spun around them.


	8. Field of View

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
> 
>  **Author's Notes:** Harry's campsite is in a location that looks [like this](http://photos_00.coastradar.com/28/97/289761.jpg), or (a slightly wider view) [this](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K_WIBZxpBYU/T_MfD-2RVnI/AAAAAAAAAPg/KGD799WW2HM/s1600/photo-15.JPG).
> 
>  **Warning:** This chapter contains discussion of bodily functions which some people might find a bit yucky.
> 
>  **Prompt for 8th December:** [Hot chocolate](http://assets.inhabitots.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Fair-Trade-Hot-Chocolate.jpg)

They staggered as they landed, and Harry's arms tightened around Draco for a moment before he let go.

"Sorry about that," he said. "You'd think I'd have got used to it after all these years, but my landing's always wobbly, even when I have someone I'm comfortable holding onto properly. If I'm only holding an arm, I usually fall over. It's kind of embarrassing, actually."

"You're comfortable holding onto me?" was what Draco got from that, but he refrained (with some effort) from saying so. Instead, he said: "It's no problem. So where's this campsite?" 

"Just over here," said Harry. "Come on."

Draco looked around him as he followed Harry even further into the middle of nowhere. Most of what he could see was grass; in one direction it was interrupted in the far distance by a stone wall, but there was no other visible feature, other than the narrow road which crossed the landscape behind where they'd arrived. 

Harry, who was walking faster than Draco, gradually vanished behind a dip in the ground; when Draco caught up to him, though, there was still nothing visible other than grass. But then Harry waved his hand, and a very small tent appeared; it clearly wasn't tall enough for Draco (or Harry for that matter) to be able to stand up inside.

"Not that I really expected anyone to come past while I was away, but I thought it wouldn't do any harm to put an invisibility charm on it," explained Harry.

"I bet that would confuse the sheep, if there were any," said Draco. 

Harry looked at him and then grinned. "You know, I never thought of that!" he said. "And there _are_ sheep around, actually. All this land is farmland. Although I can't imagine the farmer can possibly be making much money from it – nothing seems to grow here except grass, and there don't seem to be enough sheep to be worth it. No wonder he was pleased when I went to ask for permission to camp here. Although he didn't charge me very much."

"Give me the guided tour, then," said Draco, dumping his rucksack on the grass. 

"Erm," said Harry, "this is the tent. In front of the tent is where we will sit to look at the sky later. (The chairs are inside the tent for the moment – I put them there in case it rained.) Everywhere else is the toilet, but it's more pleasant for all concerned if we go a decent distance from the tent before using it."

"Understood," said Draco. "And do we do anything in particular for… well, shitting?"

"Well, the sheep don't," Harry pointed out. "Some campers would build a latrine, or at least a pit, but we're not going to be here for long, so I don't think it's worth it. You can bury it if you like, but nature will remove it in time. Toilet paper is a different matter, though, so I must admit I cheat and using a cleaning charm instead." 

"Makes sense," said Draco. "OK, got it. I've never been camping before, though, so please share any other tips that occur to you."

"The main thing that's occurring to me right now is that I'm really impressed that you're doing this at all, but I suspect that'll be ongoing, so just take it as read," said Harry, smiling. "In the meantime, the most important things about camping are to keep dry and warm, to be comfortable, and to eat and drink all the time. So sling that bag into the tent, put an extra jumper on, and bring the chairs out. We may as well have some of that cake, mightn't we? And how about hot chocolate?"

"Hot chocolate sounds good," Draco agreed. He unzipped the front of the tent and looked inside. There were two folding chairs immediately inside the doorway, which he pulled out and passed to Harry; the only other things in the tent were a sleeping bag and pillow to one side, a rucksack at the far end, and a couple of plastic carrier bags near the front. 

"Can you grab those plastic bags, please?" called Harry. Draco did so and passed them behind him; he put his rucksack next to the other one at the far end of the tent, and pulled out his sleeping stuff and laid it out. He grabbed his thickest jumper and the Christmas pudding, and backed out of the tent on his knees.

Harry had already lit a gas camping stove and was heating a pan of hot chocolate on it. "I think it tastes better this way," he said. "I haven't got any cream or anything, though – will you be OK with it as it is?"

"It smells great," said Draco, truthfully. "I think it'll be much easier to use a charm to heat the Christmas pudding, though, don't you?"

"Oh, definitely," Harry agreed. "Did your dad put anything in for us to have with it?"

Draco went to look. "Custard!" he exclaimed in delight, bringing the packet back outside. "Perfect. Do we have bowls and spoons?"

"In that bag," said Harry, pointing. 

Fifteen minutes later, they were sitting side by side in the folding chairs, each cradling a mug of hot chocolate. The Christmas pudding had been heated up and devoured long before the hot chocolate was ready.

"I'm totally full," said Harry, "but I also know I'll probably be hungry again in an hour. Fresh air seems to do that to me."

"It'll be pretty dark in an hour, won't it?" said Draco. "It's half past three now, and sunset's about a quarter to four today. I looked it up."

"Correct," said Harry. "And that's when our night together properly begins."


	9. Binary System

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
> 
>  **Author's Notes:** At first, when I saw this prompt, my mind went totally blank. But then I laughed out loud as I realised it was the easiest one so far \o/
> 
>  **Prompt for 9th December:** [White roses](https://www.roses2go.com.au/store/images/products/451.JPG)

They sat in silence for a while, gazing out across the moor and occasionally sipping hot chocolate. 

"It's odd," said Draco eventually, "how majestic this landscape feels, given that it's pretty much just grass."

"I know what you mean," Harry said. "I think it's the scale of it. True, it's just grass, but it looks as if it goes on forever. And having hills in the distance adds to the effect, doesn't it?"

"They call it God's Own Country – did you know that?"

"Who do?"

"People from Yorkshire."

"Huh, I didn't know that," said Harry. "All I know about Yorkshire is the white rose symbol. It's all over the place."

"When you drive on the motorway from Lancashire into Yorkshire, there's a white rose on a pillar by the road at the point where you enter Yorkshire," Draco informed him. "In the other direction, there's a red rose."

"How on earth do you know this stuff?"

"I did a lot of reading about Yorkshire when my parents moved here. I read a lot in general, actually."

"Why, isn't there anything else to do in… where did you say you live?"

"Sorrento. And yes, there's plenty to do, but there are loads of tourists, and I mostly prefer to stay at home in peace. My flat overlooks the sea and I can see Capri in the distance. It's very pleasant to sit on the balcony reading."

"It sounds very lonely, though," commented Harry. "Don't you have any friends over there? Or friends from here who visit?"

"I've haven't really kept in touch with anyone from here, apart from my parents," said Draco. "And I haven't really got close to anyone in Italy. There are acquaintances – you know, people I've worked with, local shopkeepers, that sort of thing. But no-one I'd call a friend."

"And what about romance? Or sex, or preferably both?"

Draco laughed hollowly. "Yes, I've heard of those things," he said. "But no – sadly there hasn't been any of that in quite a few years."

Harry turned to stare at him with a concerned face. "I don't get it," he said. "I could understand it if you were still obnoxious, but you're nice now. And… well, even when you were obnoxious, you can't have had any trouble finding partners. I mean, look at you."

Draco shot him a surprised glance, and decided that the safest response was a very slight nod acknowledging the compliment. "That's very kind of you to say, but the truth is that I have no evidence either for or against your theory, because… well, I haven't tried. After the war I got abuse hurled at me any time I went out in public, so I got used to staying at home most of the time. After a while I decided it would be better to move to another country where nobody knew who I was, and it's been great, but I've never got out of the habit of keeping myself to myself. I just feel a bit guilty that my parents couldn't move away too, but you know my father has restrictions on where he can go. But they seem quite happy. And of course it's because of you that my mother and I are free of those restrictions, so thank you for that."

"Well, I only told the truth, but if it helped then I'm glad," said Harry. "I'm worried about you now, though. I don't like the idea of you being on your own all the time. Surely people must have tried to chat you up? What do you do when that happens?"

"Obviously I'm extremely polite, and I tell them that I'm very flattered but I have a boyfriend," said Draco. 

"Thank goodness for that," said Harry, looking very relieved. Draco looked at him quizzically.

"I've been racking my brains trying to think of a subtle way to find out whether you're gay or straight," Harry admitted. "I was just about to give up and just ask you."

Draco suddenly felt unaccountably nervous about continuing the conversation. "Did you know that in America they rack their brain rather than their brains?" he offered, as a distraction. "It always amuses me that they obviously only have half the brains we do."

"Oh, don't you dare," said Harry, with a big grin on his face. "You are _not_ going to change the subject just when I've found out I might have a chance with you."


	10. Osculation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
> 
>  **Author's Notes:** They _will_ do their stargazing eventually… but not in this chapter!
> 
>  **Prompt for 10th December:** [Mistletoe](http://www.flowers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Mistletoe.jpg)

"So I wasn't imagining things," said Draco. "I was pretty sure you were flirting, but I'm very out of practice at this stuff, so I needed to be absolutely sure. Especially as it seemed so unlikely that you'd be thinking of me like that."

"Why unlikely?" asked Harry. 

"Well, it's _you_. You could do so much better than me. Also, you do remember our past?"

Harry sighed. "I hate that you have such a low opinion of yourself," he said. "You are absolutely gorgeous, and I've always thought so, even when I didn't like you. In fact, you're even better-looking now you're older. But your looks aren't the main thing. The main thing is that I feel comfortable with you, and I'm enjoying spending time with you, and I want to spend a lot _more_ time with you. I was already thinking that yesterday, and today the feeling is stronger. So, yes, I'm thinking of you like that. The question is… might you be able to think of _me_ like that? If not, I promise never to mention it again. But I'm hoping."

Draco took a deep breath. "Well, if I'm being totally honest, I've always thought of you like that, although it was a long time before I admitted it to myself, and I never told anyone else," he said. "But I would never have done anything about it. Apart from anything else, I didn't think you were gay. What happened to the Weasley girl?"

"Ginny? We tried for a while, after the war, but we'd already drifted apart by then, and after a few months we agreed it wasn't working. She's still a good friend, though – it was all very civilised. And it wasn't until after we split up that I realised I might not be entirely straight. Actually, true story: my first gay experience was when I saw a bloke in a bar who looked a bit like you. I couldn't help staring at him, and he noticed and came over, and… well, that was an educational night."

"Just the one night?"

"On that occasion, yes. I never saw him again. And since then I've mainly been with men rather than women, but nothing serious."

"And is that because you didn't _want_ anything serious, or have you just not found the right person?"

"I'd love to settle down with someone," said Harry, wistfully. "But it would have to be someone I could trust with Teddy. I know he's old enough now that I don't really have to worry about him, but I've got used to putting him first. And, well, I'm used to living without a partner apart from occasional flings. It would take someone pretty special to make me invite them into my life properly."

"Well, that's the other thing," said Draco. "Apart from the fact that I don't think I'm particularly special, I'm enjoying spending time with you too, and I'm hoping I can get to know Teddy better. I can't help thinking that if we try to explore this thing between us, whatever it is, we're bound to have a huge fight, and it will mess up everything else."

Harry was quiet for a moment, and then laughed. "You know what? It occurs to me that whenever I've been with anyone, it's never started with an in-depth discussion of why a serious relationship might not work," he said. "Usually I've at least kissed them before we get to the soul-searching. And I've always wanted to see what it's like to kiss you. Can I?"

Draco stood up. "I'm not going to deny that I've always wanted to kiss you," he said. "So yes, but only if we do it properly. It'd be very awkward to do it in these chairs."

Harry smiled and stood up too. He put his hands on Draco's shoulders. "We definitely need to do it properly," he agreed. "I've actually been thinking about this moment since yesterday, when Teddy told us about the mistletoe in the pub."

"I wonder if mistletoe grows anywhere near here," said Draco. "Oh, no, wait, that's stupid. It grows on the trunks of trees, doesn't it? And there aren't any trees anywhere in sight."

"There you go, changing the subject again," said Harry, stroking the side of Draco's neck with his thumb. "I'm starting to think that maybe you don't want to kiss me after all?"

Draco pulled Harry towards him, and their lips met.


	11. Observation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
> 
>  **Author's Notes:** A bit of kissing and a lot of stargazing in this chapter. But don't worry, they'll get back to the kissing soon!
> 
>  **Prompt for 11th December:** [Christmas cracker](https://yourenglishlessons.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/90_04_35-christmas-cracker_web.jpg)

The kiss was a little restrained at first, as if they were both trying not to do anything that might put the other off. But then Harry wrapped his arms more firmly around Draco and, as if a switch had been flipped, everything immediately became more intense. Their tongues touched now and again, but what really made Draco's blood rush was the feeling of being joined to Harry; they were breathing as one, and Draco could even feel Harry's heart beating next to his.

After a few minutes, an unspoken agreement pulled them apart, albeit somewhat reluctantly. Harry took hold of Draco's hands, and they grinned at each other.

"We're going to need to do that again quite soon, if that's OK with you," said Harry.

"I think that can be arranged. But I need to get my breath back first. Also, look!"

Draco pointed to the sky behind Harry. The sun had just set, and a few stars were already visible. 

"Stargazing time!" said Harry. "Tell you what, I'm going to bring out that bag of cake so we can dip into it when we feel like it. We can have soup later, when we're freezing – we'll appreciate it more then."

"Good plan," said Draco, settling himself into his chair. 

Harry went into the tent and re-emerged with the bag of cakes. "Let's see what we've got, while it's still light," he said, emptying it out onto the grass. "Ooh. Fruit cake… parkin… Victoria sandwich… lemon drizzle. Not bad. Oh, and look – he's put a Christmas cracker in the bottom! Shall we pull it now?"

"Go on then. I always win, though, just so you know."

Harry laughed and held out the cracker. Draco grabbed it and pulled, and then emptied the contents of his half onto his hand. 

"Let's see… party hat… plastic reindeer… oh, good, a joke. What did Adam say on the day before Christmas?"

Harry looked at him expectantly.

"It’s Christmas, Eve," said Draco. They both groaned.

"That's truly terrible," said Harry. "You're welcome to win all the cracker pulls if that's the standard of jokes in them. I think you should wear the hat, though."

"What, and mess up my hair?! Not likely. I'll tell you what, though – I'll keep it until you have one, and then we can both wear them."

"Deal," said Harry, sitting in his chair and taking a piece of parkin. 

"I can already see why it's worth coming here," commented Draco a few minutes later. "The sky looks incredible, and we're not even out of twilight yet. I can't wait to see what it's like when it's properly dark."

"I know. Especially because Orion'll be up by then. Not that there's anything wrong with the other constellations, but Orion is the best, isn't he?"

"Definitely. And we might even be able to see the nebula in these conditions!"

"I'm hoping so. It's been a bit misty the last couple of nights – we could see the stars, but nothing below about third magnitude. But tonight it's crystal clear. Look how sharp the Summer Triangle is."

"And I can see the Andromeda Galaxy. Wow."

"I think that's the furthest thing it's possible to see with the naked eye – have I remembered that right?"

"Yes and no," said Draco. "That's certainly what we were taught at school, but the information is slightly out of date. There are a few visible objects that are actually further away. But traditionally it's Andromeda."

"Pity," said Harry. "That piece of knowledge is really the only thing that makes it exciting to look at. It's just a fairly unimpressive blob really, isn't it? Not like the Pleiades. They're my favourite thing in the sky, after Orion. Look, they're already up." He twisted around to point to the north-east. 

Draco turned to look. "I can see all seven of the main stars," he announced, pleased. "The most I've seen before is six."

"I think it's possible to see even more from here, but not till we're out of twilight," said Harry. "In the meantime, please remind me where Draco is. I can never remember."

"Draco's right here," said Draco, and he reached out and took Harry's hand.

"Happy as I am about that, you know I meant the constellation, right?" said Harry, laughing. But he kept tight hold of Draco's hand while Draco pointed out his namesake constellation.


	12. Meteor Shower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
> 
>  **Author's Notes:** Sorry for the delay, it's been a madly busy weekend!
> 
>  **Prompt for 12th December:** [Tree of wine bottles](http://bevmothirstytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Wine-Tree.jpg)

Several hours later, all the cake was gone, and asparagus soup had been heated up and consumed; the sky was now totally dark, and the spectacle overhead was glorious. The square of Pegasus was setting in the west, but Orion stood proudly in the south, and Jupiter was blazing just above the eastern horizon, easily the brightest thing in the sky.

Draco was feeling very content. HIs belly was full and his surroundings were spectacular. The conversation had flowed effortlessly, and remarkably they seemed to have avoided any potentially difficult topics. Between them, they'd identified all the currently visible constellations, and even found several of the brighter Messier objects; they'd also discussed subjects ranging from _Strictly Come Dancing_ (which they were each surprised to find the other was a fan of) to a bizarre Christmas tree Draco had seen in Italy, consisting of dozens of illuminated wine bottles.

Also, for most of the evening they had continued to hold hands.

There was only one thing that wasn't perfect. "You know what? I'm bloody freezing," said Draco. "But I don't want this to end."

"This?" asked Harry, holding up their joined hands, "or this, as in the stargazing?"

"Any of it," Draco reassured him. "I'm loving it. And I definitely don't want to go to sleep yet – it's almost midnight, so we should see a lot more meteors from now on. Isn't tonight the Geminid maximum?"

"If not, it's not far off," said Harry. "Teddy and I saw quite a few meteors last night, but only two of them were before midnight. Tonight we've already seen five, haven't we?"

"Do you remember that lesson we had at school when we were supposed to be doing a proper meteor observation, and recording magnitude and direction and all that sort of thing, but then we all forgot our clipboards every time a meteor appeared, and everyone was just going _DID YOU SEE THAT ONE?!?_ "

Harry laughed. "Yeah – even Hermione only wrote a few of them down. We all thought Sinistra would be furious, but she just rolled her eyes and said…"

" _Every year. This happens every year. Why do I bother?_ " finished Draco, in his best Professor Sinistra impression.

They grinned at each other – at least, Draco thought Harry was grinning back at him; he couldn't actually see in the dark.

"Anyway," said Harry, "to the problem at hand. I'm glad you're enjoying tonight – I am too. And, I have a suggestion. Why don't we bring our bedding outside? I've never actually slept under the stars, and now that I've thought of it I really want to."

"Sounds like a plan," said Draco. "But I have an even better suggestion. Why don't we not only bring our bedding outside, but zip the sleeping bags together? Sharing body heat is the sensible thing to do. Also, I rather want to carry on touching you, if that's OK."

Harry squeezed his hand. "I like the way you're thinking," he said. "Clothes on or off?"


	13. Collimation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
> 
>  **Author's Notes:** The rating seems to be rising \o/
> 
>  **Prompt for 13th December:** [Snow-covered phone box](http://www.venere.com/blog/images/things-to-do-in-london-winter.jpg)

Draco paused before answering, considering the question. "I want to say off, but I'm also still bloody freezing," he admitted eventually. "How about we start with all our clothes still on, but remove them as we warm up?"

"You're full of good ideas tonight!" said Harry. "Yes, absolutely. Undressing each other sounds like fun. Even more fun than I expected there'd be tonight, if I'm honest."

"Well, I suppose it may seem as if we're moving a bit fast," said Draco, "but life's too short to waste time when I think we both know what we want. It's not as if we've just met, after all."

"True," said Harry. "And, as I mentioned, I've gone a lot further with people I _have_ just met. But this… I'm not sure what this is, but I do definitely know I don't want it to be just for tonight. So I didn't want to push you. But… well, I agree. We don't have to be restrained, do we? Come here."

Harry pulled Draco to his feet, and kissed the side of his nose. "Bloody hell, where's your mouth gone?" he complained. "I can't see a thing."

"Smooth, Potter," commented Draco, guiding Harry's head until their lips found each other.

This kiss was quite different to the earlier one, because Harry had chuckled at Draco's comment, and that had set Draco off, and now they were snogging feverishly but also laughing every time they paused for breath. It was a heady sensation, and Draco felt quite giddy. Eventually, though, he was the one who pulled them apart.

"Pleasant though this is, can I remind you about how bloody freezing I am?" he pointed out. "Let's get the bedding sorted out and get inside, and then we can continue."

"Sorry, I forgot," said Harry. "You're addictive, you know that?"

This comment did nothing to reduce Draco's giddiness, but he made himself stand up and head for the tent. 

A second later, he was sprawling on the dew-damp grass, having tripped over the side of his own chair. 

"Are you OK?" asked Harry, turning on his torch and shining its red light on Draco.

"The only damage is to my dignity," Draco told him. "Tell you what, though – I'll go in the tent and pull both lots of our stuff out, but can you shine that so I can see?"

Harry did so, and within minutes they had set up the waterproof ground sheet, airbeds, sleeping bags and blankets. It turned out not to be quite as easy to connect the sleeping bags as they'd thought, but they managed it with a bit of wrangling. There was no way to connect the airbeds together, but they agreed that if they fell down the gap in the middle it would actually be quite funny.

"OK, sit on your chair a minute. And shine this torch on your feet," said Harry, when everything was set up. Draco, puzzled, did so.

Harry began undoing Draco's bootlaces. "I figure that if I'm going to have to wait a while to undress you completely, I can at least start the process now," he explained. "You weren't planning on going to bed with your boots still on, were you?"

"Fair point," said Draco. "But I apologise in advance if my feet smell."

"If anyone's feet are going to smell, it'll be mine," Harry told him. "Smelly feet doesn't seem like a very Malfoy thing to have."

Draco considered this, as he gestured for Harry to sit down to have his boots removed. "You know what? Maybe you're right. But the point is moot, because your feet don't smell. Unless my nose is so cold it's stopped working."

"Let's get you warmed up, then," said Harry, standing and taking Draco's hand. 

They both got into the mega sleeping bag and wormed their way down until they were both lying flat on their backs, side by side with their feet at the bottom of the bag. "How d'you want to do this?" asked Harry. "Face to face or spooning?"

"Erm, both sound lovely," said Draco. "But you're forgetting part B of the plan, which was to continue with the snogging."

"Ah, silly me, you're right," said Harry. "How could I forget that? Face to face it is."

They shuffled around into position and repositioned the hood section to cover most of their heads, then wrapped their arms around each other. Draco was already feeling warmer, and the heat of Harry's breath on his face seemed much greater inside the sleeping bag. He smiled to himself and squeezed Harry tighter.

"This is great," he said.

"Less talking, more kissing," said Harry, and brought his lips to Draco's. 

Although they were both still wearing several layers of clothing, the enclosed surroundings of the sleeping bag made this kiss feel exponentially more intimate than the previous ones, and it wasn't long before Draco started to feel _too_ warm.

"Hang on a second," he said, his lips still close to Harry's. "I need to take off one of my jumpers. And maybe my socks."

"I hope you remember promising me that _I_ could undress you," said Harry. "Actually, this is going to be awkward unless we actually get out of the bag, isn't it?"

"Well, let's keep that as plan B," said Draco. "I bet you can manage it without us having to brave the cold air again. After all, Superman could change his entire outfit in a phone box, couldn't he? And you're _Harry Potter_. You're not going to let Superman outdo you, are you?"

"I must admit, I always wondered how he did that," Harry mused, while he manoeuvred Draco's jumper over his head. "I mean, superspeed wouldn't help much in such a small space. Plus, what did he do with the clothes he was wearing before?"

"I think I read a theory once that he had a secret pouch inside his cape," said Draco, obligingly raising his arms. "The more interesting question, to me, is where his cape is when he's dressed as Clark Kent. I mean, it's quite big, isn't it? Is it already attached to his shoulders or does he put it on when he changes? Either way, won't there be a strange bulge?"

"My mind is boggled right now," Harry told him. "Why have I never wondered that before? But never mind that. Talking of bulges, am I allowed to say that I can't help noticing the one between your legs?"


	14. Culmination

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
> 
>  **Author's Notes:** Note increased rating. We have progress \o/
> 
>  **Prompt for 14th December:** [Frozen holly bush](http://img04.deviantart.net/b42f/i/2010/172/7/1/leaves_on_a_frozen_tree_by_kingtigertank.jpg)

Draco felt himself blush, and was embarrassed about this until he remembered Harry couldn't see him. 

"Hey, I'm only human," he said. "I haven't been with anyone in years, and then all of a sudden an incredibly hot guy that I've always fancied is undressing me."

"I wasn't complaining!" said Harry. "Just commenting. And… I don't think I've ever been called _incredibly hot_ before. Thank you."

"Maybe you just haven't been called that to your face," Draco pointed out. "I don't believe no-one else has noticed how good you look. Anyway, you're wearing far too many clothes. Let's get that jumper off."

Draco had only intended to remove the top layer, but somehow everything stuck together and the manoeuvre ended with Harry topless.

"It's fine, I was boiling anyway," Harry told him. "In fact, I could do with losing a few more items. Help me get my trousers off?"

With quite a bit of giggling, they removed Harry's trousers and socks, resulting in Harry wearing only his boxer briefs. Draco, however, still had his trousers and the thinner of his two jumpers; when he started to remove them, Harry put out a hand to stop him.

"Don't misunderstand, I really want to get you naked," said Harry. "But I've just discovered that me being nearly naked while you're almost fully clothed is a _big_ turn-on for me, so d'you mind if we delay your undressing for a few minutes?"

Draco reached down and tentatively put his hand on Harry's crotch, which definitely provided supporting evidence for Harry's statement; also, the sharp intake of breath made Draco grin with satisfaction. He used his other arm to pull Harry closer towards him, and started kissing all the parts within reach of his head, while very lightly stroking the front of Harry's underpants. Harry threw back his head and moaned, tightening his grip on Draco; within a couple of minutes he came, with a yell and a shudder.

Draco smiled, and held Harry until his breathing returned to normal. 

"Sorry about that," said Harry. "I normally last a lot longer."

"What on earth are you apologising for? I'm taking it as a huge compliment. I made you come without even touching your cock. I'm feeling incredibly smug right now, I can tell you."

"Smug and sticky, I suspect," Harry pointed out. "But you didn't come?"

"Only because I need a wee," Draco told him. "Let me just go and take care of that, and then you can warm me up again and we can carry on from where we got to."

"Deal," said Harry, performing a cleaning charm on both of them as Draco climbed out of the sleeping bag.

He was instantly hit with the icy air, and shivered. He put his boots back on without bothering with his socks, grabbed the red-bulb torch and trudged off away from the campsite. He went as far as a small group of bushes that he'd noticed in the distance; when he reached them, he realised that they were holly bushes, covered in bright red berries. 

"Very Christmassy," said Draco, as he relieved himself. He turned to walk back to the camp, and was struck again by how very dark it was. He turned off the torch for a moment. Initially he was surrounded by complete blackness, but as his eyes re-adapted to the dark he could just about make out the holly bush next to him; everything further away, though, was invisible.

He turned the torch back on and walked quickly back to Harry, who was still entombed in the sleeping bag. 

"I missed you!" said Harry. "Are you cold again?"

"Yes, very," said Draco, "But I'll warm up in no time when I'm back in the sleeping bag. Help me get some of these clothes off?" He pulled his boots off and knelt on the airbed.

Harry grinned and crawled out to join him. Goose pimples immediately covered his naked chest, and Draco couldn't resist reaching out to see if Harry's nipples were as hard as they looked (they were). This caused Harry to hurriedly remove Draco's second jumper and the T-shirt he'd been wearing underneath, and he ran his hands over Draco's torso in delight.

"God, you're gorgeous," he said. "But I want all of you. Stand up so I can get your jeans off."

Draco obliged, shivering but also incredibly turned on. When he was down to his underwear, Harry stood up and kissed him.

"It's weird that something so hot can be happening while it's so cold," he commented a few minutes later. 

"Weird, but incredible," said Draco. He put his thumbs inside the waistband of Harry's boxer briefs. "Can I?"


	15. Averted Vision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
> 
>  **Author's Notes:** I can't promise there'll be as much sex in all the remaining chapters, but for the moment they're very keen on it :-)
> 
>  **Prompt for 15th December:** [Houses of Parliament](http://data.whicdn.com/images/45395101/original.jpg)

"Lux circuitum," said Harry, and a white glow surrounded them. "That's a definite yes, by the way – but I'd like to return the favour too, and I want to be able to see you."

"That's a useful spell," Draco commented. "I'd forgotten it existed. Trust you to be able to do it wandlessly."

"Less fan worship, more stripping, please," said Harry, grinning. He put his hands on Draco's shoulders as Draco slowly pulled down his underpants. Harry's cock sprang free, and Draco ran his fingers over it lightly, causing Harry to shudder. He stepped out of his underwear and then removed Draco's.

They stood there for a moment, totally naked in the middle of a field in the Yorkshire Dales, and stared appreciatively at each other; the separation only lasted a minute, however, before they were kissing desperately, their hands exploring every piece of exposed skin they could reach. Their erections were repeatedly pressed together, and the sensation was almost too much to bear.

"I just saw a meteor," murmured Draco after a while, pausing in his kissing of Harry's eyelids.

"Finem lux," said Harry, and the light vanished. He stood behind Draco and wrapped his arms round him, his cock pressing along Draco's arse-crack. "Damn, my dark adaptation has totally gone. I can't see anything."

"It'll be back in a few minutes," said Draco, wriggling slightly to increase the delicious sensation. 

"True," said Harry. "Why don't we lie down and get warm, and do a bit of meteor-watching while we're… erm, getting to know each other?"

"Good idea," said Draco, and did one final wriggle before detaching himself and crawling into the sleeping bag. 

"You're naughty. I like it," said Harry, as he crawled in with him. "But now I'm going to do the same to you. Turn over onto your other side. No, wait, that's no good. We need to be facing the other way."

"Why?" wondered Draco.

"The Geminid radiant is… well, I can't remember exactly, but Gemini's almost due south right now, so it must be somewhere around there." Harry shuffled around until they were both facing south and spooning, with Harry in front of Draco.

Draco wrapped his arms tightly round Harry and revelled in the feeling of his cock pressed against Harry's arse. They lay there for a few minutes, getting their breath back.

"There's one!" they both said together.

"Quite a bright one too," said Draco. "I think maybe zero magnitude, what do you think?"

"Yeah, can't be far off zero," agreed Harry. "And it was blue! I know the Geminids are supposed to have a few different colours, but we've only seen white and yellow ones so far this week."

For the next couple of hours, they lay there contentedly counting and discussing meteors, occasionally swapping places to avoid limbs going numb. In between meteors, they tried to persuade each other of the existence of new constellations. 

"Look at this," said Harry, twenty or so meteors later; he pointed as if Draco could actually see his arm. "I can see a mega-constellation. Imagine a line starting from Procyon, going through Castor and Pollux, and then on to Capella and down to Aldebaran, before going back up to Perseus and Cassiopeia and finally down to Aries."

Draco followed the line of stars as Harry described it. "I suppose it looks a _bit_ like Hogwarts," he said eventually.

Harry turned to face him. "What, are you blind or something? It's obviously the Houses of Parliament!"

Draco laughed out loud. "And I suppose the Pleiades are Big Ben? Whatever you say, gorgeous. If you think that's the Houses of Parliament, it can be the Houses of Parliament."

"Lucky for you you've got such an incredible body, or I might be tempted to storm off in a huff," grumbled Harry. "Speaking of which, I really want to fuck you, but I'm getting sleepy and I want to be able to give that my full attention, so maybe not tonight. But please can I suck your cock?"

Draco inhaled sharply. "I'm… agreeable to that plan," he said, a little breathlessly. "But I've got an even better one. It'll be easier if we get out of the sleeping bag, and then we'll get cold, and I'm getting sleepy too, but if you're going to suck my cock then there's no way I'm going to sleep without sucking yours. So, since we want to minimise the time outside the sleeping bag… how about a sixty-nine?"

"And again you're the one with the genius plan," said Harry, laughing as he crawled out of the sleeping bag.

"Well, duh," said Draco, but then he gasped as his cock was enveloped in Harry's warm mouth. For a minute he was lost in sensation, but then he remembered that this was supposed to be a two-way process, and reached out his hand. Finding Harry's cock helpfully right in front of his face, he licked the entire length of it and then set to work exploring every inch. He had thought it was large when he'd seen it earlier, but it seemed enormous this close up. This was far from being a problem, though, and Draco grinned happily as he attempted to see how much of it he could fit in his mouth.

This caused Harry to emit random noises, and the vibration of these on Draco's cock set up a kind of feedback loop, and less than a minute later they both came, almost simultaneously. Draco didn't have time to wonder whether or not he'd be able to swallow Harry's come; Harry swallowed his, and Draco found himself following suit.

"I've never done that before," Draco admitted, as they lay naked under the stars, getting their breath back.

"What, given a blowjob? Or _had_ a blowjob?" asked Harry incredulously. 

"Oh, I've done both of those. But I've never swallowed."

"Why not? Don't you like the taste?"

"Well, not usually," said Draco. "But that's not why. I think it was partly because it seemed so intimate and I've never been with anyone I was really close to. And partly because it seemed a bit scary. And also partly because no-one's ever swallowed mine."

"Well, I feel very honoured that I'm your first, especially given those reasons," said Harry. "You said 'not usually'. How did mine taste, then? … Don't worry, I won't take it personally if you didn't like it."

Draco considered this. "Actually, it was a bit like lemon drizzle cake," he said, only half-joking. 

Harry burst out laughing. "Can't say I'm surprised," he said. "I did eat a very large amount of that earlier tonight. Oddly enough, I think yours tasted of asparagus."

"Bizarre," said Draco. "Anyway, I'm looking forward to round two, but for the moment shall we get warm and go to sleep?"

Harry nodded, and they got back into the bag, face to face this time. They wrapped their arms around each other and kissed chastely, before Harry snuggled his head into Draco's neck.

"Night, Draco," he said.

"Night, Harry," replied Draco.

And then sleep overcame them, until they were woken by voices.

"Well, this looks cosy," said Ron Weasley.


	16. Prominence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
> 
>  **Author's Notes:** Sorry for the delay, singing got in the way!
> 
>  **Prompt for 16th December:** [Red Christmas decorations](http://www.desmondhotelsalbany.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Red-Christmas-decorations-christmas-22228021-1920-1200.jpg)

Draco opened his eyes and found Harry looking back at him. 

"Don't worry," whispered Harry. Then, to Ron: "It is, actually. What are you doing here, though? Is something wrong?"

"Well, I can't help noticing you're in bed with Draco bloody Malfoy," said Ron. "And once upon a time that would have been about as wrong as anything could be. But Teddy seems convinced that Draco's not all bad, so I thought I'd better check rather than just Stunning him while he was asleep."

Draco looked up at him, alarmed, but Harry drew him in tighter. "It's a good thing you didn't do that," he told Ron. "I would have been extremely unimpressed if you had."

"I'm so sorry, Harry, Draco," said Teddy, who had been hanging back until now. "He asked me to bring him here when I told him you were together. I thought he just wanted to come and say hello. Erm, are you two naked in there?"

"Yes," said Harry. "And we were asleep until you arrived. So, now you've seen that everything's fine, please could you go away? We'll come and see you later, if you like. But I'm too tired to do anything but go back to sleep right now."

Ron looked troubled. "Can I have a word with you, Harry? In private?"

Harry sighed. "Well, you asked for it," he pointed out. "Draco, I'll be back in a minute." He crawled out of the sleeping bag; Draco shivered as the cold air hit him, and pulled the fabric closer around him. Harry, however, stood naked – and fully erect – on the grass and looked calmly at Ron, whose face had grown so red that Draco was reminded of a Christmas bauble.

Teddy's eyes were huge as he stared at Harry's cock, but he didn't comment on it. "I'll just, er… see you at home," he said, and Disapparated.

"Come on," said Harry, grimly, and walked a few paces away. Ron followed him, and an apparently heated argument ensued. Draco tried at first to pretend he wasn't watching, but then he realised they weren't looking anywhere other than at each other. The image of the two of them would stay in Draco's mind for quite some time, he realised: Ron getting more and more agitated, if the waving of his arms was anything to go by, with Harry standing perfectly calmly with his hands clasped behind his back and his very hard cock jutting up into the cold Yorkshire air. Draco remembered Harry getting turned on by being naked when Draco had been clothed; he wondered whether Harry also had a related exhibitionist kink. That would certainly explain why his erection hadn't been affected at all by the temperature.

After a few minutes, Ron seemed to deflate, and the two of them walked back to Draco. Harry looked expectantly at Ron.

"I'm sorry, Malfoy," Ron said. "It's none of my business what Harry does with you, and even if you weren't with him right now I should have given you the benefit of the doubt and believed you'd changed."

"And?" prompted Harry.

"… And I know Harry's always fancied you, so I shouldn't have been so surprised that things have moved this fast."

"Thank you, Ron," said Harry. "Now can we go back to sleep? I promise we'll come and see you later, and you can quiz us all you like then."

Ron was about to answer, but Draco beat him to it. "Wait a minute," he said. "I appreciate you speaking on my behalf, Harry, but I think I want to say something too." And he crawled out of the sleeping bag and stood at Harry's side.

"Oh, bloody hell," said Ron, flushing even redder. Harry, however, put his arm round Draco and grinned at him wickedly.

"I know you're trying to look away, Weasley," said Draco, "and, believe me, I'm sure I would be too if our positions were reversed. But I just wanted to point out that, as you'll see from my erection, the attraction here is by no means one-sided. I didn't know until very recently that Harry had ever been interested in me, but I can promise you that I've been having what you'd probably call inappropriate thoughts about him for many years. Yes, including when we were at school, although I would never have admitted it at the time."

"So you…" began Ron.

"So I am very happy about what seems to be happening between Harry and me, but it's a very new thing and I don't want to try and label it. I know how close Harry is to you, and I would never want to get between you, but I think we'd both appreciate it if you could give us a bit of time to get to know each other better."

Ron stared at Draco for a moment, and then at Harry for a longer moment, then sighed. "You know what? Fair enough. Now, I'd better get back so Hermione can get her bloody _I told you so_ out of the way. We'll expect to see you – both of you – at our house in the next couple of days. Till then… actually, I don't want to think about what you're going to do till then. But have fun."

He Disapparated, and Harry pulled Draco round and kissed him.

"That was brilliant," said Harry. "You said all the perfect things to make him back off."

"Anyone would think I use language for a living," said Draco, wryly. "Also… we seem to have a bit of an exhibitionist kink, don't we? I hadn't actually realised that about myself before."

"Me neither," said Harry. "And it makes our plan for today even better."

"What plan's that?"

"Go back to bed, get warm, and have another couple of hours' sleep. Then wake up and fuck. Under the sky, on top of the sleeping bag. I know it's very unlikely that anyone will see us… but I like the fact that they could, don't you?"


	17. Accretion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.  
>  **Author's Notes:** Only a week and a half behind! Sorry for the further delay – but I promise I _will_ finish. Hopefully this week.
> 
>  **Prompt for 17th December:** [Red & green candy canes](http://i.imgur.com/krNGWXkl.jpg)

Draco expected to find it difficult to get back to sleep, given how turned on he was, but within minutes of them getting back into the sleeping bag his eyes were closing. He tried to work out how much sleep they'd already had, but that would have involved knowing what time it was, and it was far too cosy lying wrapped around Harry for him to consider reaching for his wand. Harry, in fact, was quietly snoring already, and this made Draco give up trying to think.

He was woken some time later by a delightful sensation. He opened his eyes, and found that the winter sun was high in the sky above him, but Harry was no longer next to him. Harry was, in fact, the cause of the delightful sensation, because it seemed he had decided to wake Draco with a blowjob. Draco reached down and ran his fingers through Harry's hair by way of greeting, to which Harry responded by tightening his lips. Draco groaned and threw his head back, as he was assaulted by waves of pleasure.

Harry looked extremely pleased with himself when he emerged afterwards and lay down next to Draco, breathing heavily. His hair was a total mess, his face was very pink, and he had traces of come on his lips, but it was the rakish grin that Draco would remember most later.

"Good morning," he said to Harry, and if his voice was a little husky then it was only to be expected, he decided. "I must say I approve of your way of waking people up."

"Thought you might," said Harry, still grinning. "Did you sleep well?"

"Very well, thank you. I presume from the height of the sun that it's about noon?"

"Half past. And we went to sleep about four, so that's a decent amount of sleep, albeit interrupted by our visitors."

Draco had momentarily forgotten that episode, but it all came flooding back now. "Bloody hell," he said. "I'll never be able to look Weasley in the face again, will I?"

"Oh, you will. You can amuse yourself by seeing how much he tries not to look at _you_. Or how many times he looks down at your cock." Harry laughed. "I feel a bit bad, actually. I've never had a conversation quite like that with him. I think he realised as soon as he said it that he'd insisted I have an argument with him while I was naked, but he couldn't bring himself to end it."

"I did wonder whether that was why he seemed so… well, submissive," commented Draco. "It seemed unlike him."

"It is," Harry agreed. "I suspect he'll argue a bit more next time I see him. He's definitely never given in so completely before, but he was totally out of his comfort zone. Especially when you were naked in front of him too – which was _brilliant_ , by the way. I'm going to have wank fantasies about that for years."

Draco grinned. "You're not the only one," he said. "Speaking of which, I have a bit of a fantasy that I'm hoping you can help me with. Please will you stand on top of the sleeping bag?"

Harry obligingly crawled out, grabbing his glasses on the way and putting them on. "I want to see what you're going to do," he explained, as Draco climbed out after him.

"I'm going to return the favour," Draco told him, kneeling at Harry's feet and looking up at him. "I'm going to suck every millimetre of that huge cock of yours. But first, I'm going to look at you. … Bloody hell, it's even bigger in daylight. Typical that you'd have the world's biggest cock. Not that I'm complaining."

"It's not _that_ big," protested Harry. "It's probably because you're looking up at it or something. I'm sure that must do something to the perspective, or something."

"Well, I'm pretty sure it's bigger than mine, at least," said Draco. "Now let me see if I can make you forget how to talk."

He was soon successful in this aim; he started by just licking everything very lightly, starting with the balls and working his way up. Harry was already making little gasps long before Draco experimented with putting his tongue inside the slit, and when Draco finally wrapped his whole mouth round as much of the cock as he could, Harry cried out and stumbled; Draco held his hips firmly to support him, but continued to suck and lick. Moments later, Harry stilled, and Draco swallowed what felt like several pints of come, before staggering to his feet and pulling Harry into a messy kiss. 

"I've never had a candy cane, have you?" Draco said, some minutes later.

"What?"

"A candy cane. You know, those Christmas sweets they have in America."

"Oh, those. No, I've never had one. I saw some in a shop once though, I think. Are they peppermint flavour?"

"No idea, actually," said Draco. "I just know they suck them. I was thinking about them while I was sucking your cock."

Harry laughed. "Oh, you were, were you? Nice to know I couldn't monopolise your whole attention."

"Oh, believe me, my attention only wavered for a second," Draco assured him. "Almost immediately your cock filled my mind again. And my mouth."

"That's more like it," said Harry. "Now, how about… oh no."

"Oh no?"

"Not quite the end of the world, but we may have to reschedule our plans slightly. I don't suppose you brought any lube with you?"


	18. Ephemeris

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.  
>  **Author's Notes:** They actually put some clothes on in this chapter :-)
> 
>  **Prompt for 18th December:** [Assorted biscuits](http://i.imgur.com/GPonmZll.jpg)

Draco looked at Harry in dismay. "… No. Damn."

"Damn, indeed," said Harry. He sighed. "If this was a one-off, I might suggest we try without. But I want it to be perfect."

"So… it's _not_ just a one-off?"

Harry pulled back and stared at Draco, looking worried. "Well, I thought… Do you want it to be a one-off?"

"No! Absolutely not," said Draco. "But I… Well, I didn't like to assume. Right now it all seems a bit too good to be true, and I suppose the pessimistic side of me is waiting for it to all go wrong. Sorry."

"Draco, this is… Well, look," said Harry quietly, taking hold of both Draco's hands. "I can't promise nothing will go wrong. But I _can_ promise that I don't want it to. I know we only got together two days ago, but why shouldn't it last? All relationships have to start somewhere. I want to get to know the new you, and if it takes a while… I'm OK with that."

Draco smiled and lifted Harry's hands to kiss them. "I am too," he said. "And it _has_ been perfect so far, so yes, I'd like to make sure that our first shag is too. I did consider for a moment suggesting that I could top, because I'm not as big as you, and you…"

"Won't be as tight, because I've had sex a lot more recently," finished Harry. "It's OK, you can say it. We can do that if you want – I don't care who tops. Well, actually I do – I want it all. So we both need to top."

"That was the conclusion I came to," Draco admitted. "But there's no rush, is there? We can wait."

"The anticipation will make it even better, I suspect," said Harry. "Right then. Let's plan. Before I met you, I was planning to stay one more night here before going home. But I don't have to. Do you want to camp again tonight?"

"Definitely," said Draco. "I really enjoyed it last night. And now we've had a proper sleep we can hopefully stay awake long enough to see Venus. We just missed that last night."

"True. OK, great. Camping it is. So all we need to do in the meantime is find some lube. Do you have any at your parents' house?"

Draco laughed. "No! Why would you think I'd have needed it? I don't think I even have any in Sorrento. Like I said, it's been a long time."

"Well, we should be able to get some in Hawes," said Harry. "Although… no, actually, that might be a bad idea. I don't want to make things difficult for your parents. You know what small towns are like."

"I honestly don't think it would bother them if people were gossiping about their gay son, but it's kind of you to think of that," Draco told him. "You're probably right, though – if it can be avoided, we may as well avoid it. So what's lube plan B?"

"London, obviously," said Harry. "I've got plenty at Grimmauld Place. Actually, I'd like to check on Teddy in any case. And it might be a good idea to pop in to see Ron and Hermione before he gets himself in another state."

"I think I should go and see my parents, too," said Draco. "I did come to visit _them_ , after all. It feels a bit bad-mannered to spend all my time with you, much as I'd like to."

"Well, that's easy enough to solve," said Harry. "We'll both go! That way we'll be spending all our time with each other _and_ seeing other people. And then, when we've done all our socialising, we'll come back here and shag like bunnies under the stars."

Draco grinned. "Sounds like a perfect day," he said. "But, much as I'm enjoying standing naked here with you in the middle of the moors, we should probably put some clothes on first."

"OK, where to first?" asked Harry ten minutes later, when they were both dressed and the camp had been tidied and made invisible. "Breakfast in the caff? I'm starving."

"I am too, but I'm sure my father will want to feed us," said Draco. "He's become a bit of a Mrs Doyle since he learned to cook."

Harry laughed. "We're going to have to have a conversation sometime about your newfound knowledge of Muggle pop culture," he said. "But, great. Let's go. Do you want to Apparate us?"

Draco wrapped his arms around Harry. "Wouldn't want you to fall over," he said, as the world spun around them.

"Thanks," said Harry. He stumbled anyway, but Draco had a firm grip. 

"Do you really hug everyone you side-along with?" he asked. 

"Well, no, but I'd probably fall over a lot less if I did," Harry confessed. "I do hug my closest friends – Ron, Hermione, Teddy, the other Weasleys – but otherwise I just hold their arm. If I have to Apparate at all, that is. I try to avoid it whenever I can."

"We'll have to look into that sometime," mused Draco. "See if there's something that's causing the problem. Although they should have spotted that when you did your exam."

"I never did the exam, did I?" Harry pointed out. "My birthday's after the end of the summer term, and I never went back to school after I was seventeen."

"So you're unlicensed? Bloody hell. And they've never arrested you?"

Harry laughed. "Well, they tried lots of times during the war, but not for unlicensed Apparition," he pointed out. "And since then they seem to have forgotten that they ever wanted to. So I'm not about to bring it up."

"Interesting. I wonder if you being unlicensed is connected to you having so much trouble," said Draco, as they reached the door. He knocked.

Narcissa opened it a moment later. "Hello, you two!" she said, looking delighted. "Lucius! It's Draco and Harry. Put the kettle on. Come in, boys."

They followed her into the kitchen, where Lucius was surrounded by all manner of bowls, plates, tins and cooking ingredients. "I'm making biscuits!" he told them cheerfully. "Clear a space on the table and I'll get your coffee. Are you hungry? Do you want some lunch?"

"We were hoping you'd say that," Draco told him, grinning. "We stayed up most of the night stargazing, so we haven't been awake long. We haven't had breakfast yet. So any food you've got would be very welcome, please."

"And thank you for the cake," Harry added. "We ate all of it. Not the healthiest of diets, but it tasted amazing."

Lucius smiled widely at this news. "I am very pleased to hear that," he said. "Now, sit down. Full English breakfast coming right up. Here's coffee and toast to keep you going in the meantime. Now, tell us everything. What did you do last night?"


	19. Kepler's First Law

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.  
>  **Author's Notes:** If anyone is wondering who Mrs Doyle is, [here's an explanatory clip](http://youtu.be/N20wHvMPTGs). 
> 
> **Prompt for 19th December:** [Christmas candles & baubles](http://eskipaper.com/images/christmas-candle-wallpapers-1.jpg)

Draco and Harry looked at each other and burst out laughing. "Sorry," said Draco eventually, when he'd managed to stop giggling. "We did a lot of stargazing. We had some soup and a lot of cake. We talked a lot."

"Well, that all sounds very nice," said Narcissa. "But I don't understand why it's so funny?"

"The fact that they're holding hands under the table might give you a bit of a clue," Lucius told her. "I suspect they… well, got to know each other properly."

Draco whipped his head round and stared at his father, who was grinning wickedly.

"Oh!" said Narcissa. "Well, I didn't see _that_ coming. How lovely. And you did fancy Harry quite a lot when you were at school, didn't you, darling? It's nice to see you get something you want, for a change."

Draco's jaw dropped open. "Mother!" he said, horrified. "He's sitting right here!"

Harry, however, was shaking with laughter. "No, do go on, Narcissa," he urged. "I'd love to know what Draco used to say about me. And if you have any baby photos…."

"Don't you dare, Mother," said Draco, as Narcissa started to rise from the table. "As for what I used to say about you, obviously it was all along the lines of _that bloody prat, why does he always win?_ I have no idea where my parents are getting these ridiculous ideas from." He grinned, however, and Harry kissed him.

"Well spotted, Lucius," Harry said. "You're right – Draco and I have made an unexpected connection, and we're excited to see where it leads us. So, hopefully you'll be seeing a lot more of me."

"I am very pleased to hear it," said Lucius. "Now, however, it would probably be a good idea if you were to let go of my son for a while." At their puzzled looks, he explained: "Breakfast's ready. You'll eat quicker with both hands."

Breakfast might have been slightly awkward, due to the fact that Lucius and Narcissa both sat there just sipping coffee and watching Draco and Harry eat, but they were too hungry to be put off. After five minutes of shovelling food into their mouths, both plates were clear.

"Do you want some more?" asked Lucius. "Another sausage? Toast? Coffee? Maybe a cup of tea?"

This caused both Draco and Harry to burst out laughing again. "More toast and coffee would be lovely, please," said Harry, and Draco nodded. "I'm not much of a tea person. And thank you for feeding us. You're an excellent cook." 

"It's oddly satisfying," said Lucius, getting up and going to the breadbin. "I never would have thought it, but it is. Not just the cooking itself, but feeding people and seeing them enjoy eating what I've made."

"I can understand that," said Harry. "I had to do a lot of cooking when I was a child, but I hated it. Probably because I was never allowed to eat what I'd cooked, and the people who I was cooking for never said anything good about it. So I can cook pretty well, but it usually feels like a chore. It was only when I started cooking for Teddy that I realised it could be fun."

"But I don't understand," said Narcissa. "Who was it that made you cook for them? That sounds awful."

Harry took a deep breath. "Would you mind very much if I don't explain right now? It's not a very cheerful story, and if I start talking about it now it'll be on my mind for the rest of the day, and I don't want to depress myself. I promise I _will_ tell you sometime, but maybe late one night when I can have a few drinks and zonk out afterwards."

Draco squeezed his hand, concerned. "Of course," said Narcissa. "Forgive me for asking. I am sorry to hear that you had such an unpleasant experience."

"No forgiveness necessary. It was me that brought up the subject, after all," said Harry. "Now, I know you want to see more of Draco, but I'm afraid I'm going to keep him a bit longer. We're going to visit my friends this afternoon, and then we're going back to the campsite tonight. But I'll return him to you tomorrow, I promise."

"You are very welcome to return with him, of course," said Lucius. "It is nice to see him with someone. It's been a while."

"Yes, thank you, Father," said Draco hastily. "Harry, shall we get a move on, before my parents start describing my romantic history to you in graphic detail?"

"Well, graphic detail does sound intriguing, I must say, but maybe I'll let you tell me later," Harry said. He shoved an entire piece of toast into his mouth and stood up. "Shllwgtgrmldpls?"

"Heathen," said Draco fondly, and gulped down the last of his coffee. "Grimmauld Place it is. See you tomorrow, Mother, Father."

There were hugs all round. Draco noticed again how thin his mother was, and resolved to talk to his father about it when he got the chance. She did look well otherwise, though, he told himself as they stepped out of the house. 

"Time to be illegal again," said Harry, his eyes twinkling. He wrapped his arms around Draco and Apparated them to Grimmauld Place. 

"I haven't been here since I was a small child," said Draco, looking around the room. "It's a lot more welcoming than I remember." They appeared to have landed in the living room, and there were lit candles on every available surface, giving the room a pleasant glow. 

"I forgot you would have been here before," said Harry. "I'd like to hear about that, sometime. But let's see where Teddy is. He'd better be here – I'll be unimpressed if he's lit all these candles and then gone out. Teddy!"

This last word was a yell, and moments later could be heard the sound of someone galloping downstairs. Teddy appeared in the doorway, wearing pyjamas.

"Oh look," he said. "You're not naked!"


	20. Ecliptic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.  
>  **Author's Notes:** Longest chapter yet… I knew exactly how I wanted to use that prompt, but it took a while to get there!
> 
>  **Prompt for 20th December:** [Naked man with fairy lights](http://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/ef/4e/1b/ef4e1b11ecee831ab0a24a4337ff8f57.jpg)

"Yes, very funny," said Harry, rolling his eyes. "I should've remembered you're not _quite_ old enough to realise when a situation is never supposed to be mentioned again."

"Oh, I realised," Teddy assured him. "I just wanted to see your face when I said it. I promise not to bring it up again. … Much."

"Fine," sighed Harry. "Now, is there a reason for all these candles?"

"I have to admit I was wondering more about the pyjamas," said Draco. "It's four o'clock in the afternoon." 

"Oh, I can guess that one," Harry told him. "It probably went something like… Teddy saw Ron last night and mentioned that I was with you; Ron spent all night building himself up to an argument; Ron woke Teddy at the crack of dawn to make him show the way to the campsite; Teddy went home and went straight back to bed. Am I right?"

"Pretty much," said Teddy. "Although I've been awake for a while. I just haven't got dressed yet. I was about to, though. Victoire's coming round soon."

"Is she now? And I suppose the candles are for her," said Harry. "Well, don't worry, we're not staying. We only popped in to see if you were OK. Do you need anything?"

"No thanks, I'm fine," said Teddy. "When are you coming home, though? Tomorrow, like you said?"

"That's still the plan, yes," said Harry. "Not sure what I'm doing after that, though. But we can talk about it then. Will you be here?"

Teddy shrugged. "Should be."

"OK, well, you know I trust you. Just send your Patronus if you need me. But for the moment we'll leave you to your entertaining." Harry turned to the fireplace.

"Wasn't there something you were going to get from your room?" Draco reminded him.

Harry laughed. "Bugger! Of course there was," he said. "Good job one of us was paying attention. Won't be a sec." He ran out of the room.

"You can do a Patronus?" was the question on Draco's mind.

Teddy laughed. "Sure," he said. "Harry taught me a couple of years ago. It's really useful. And everyone else in my class is _mega_ jealous."

"I'm not surprised," Draco told him. "Not many people your age can do it. And lots of older people can't, either. I've never managed it."

Teddy stared at him. "Really? Wow. Although… oh, sorry. Is it because you haven't got a happy enough memory?"

"Yes, I'm pretty sure it is," said Draco thoughtfully. "But…"

"… you haven't tried since you've been with Harry, have you? If this morning's anything to go by, I bet you've got some pretty happy memories now," Teddy pointed out, grinning.

Draco felt himself blush, but couldn't help laughing. "Fair point," he said. "Maybe I'll try it later. Anyway, my other question is: why exactly do you need this many candles?"

"Victoire just really likes them, but most of all she likes the smell,"Teddy explained. "So I always light them a while before she's due to arrive, so the smell has a chance to build up."

Draco sniffed. "Very pleasant, I must admit. And how long…" He was interrupted, however, by Harry galloping back into the room.

"Got it," he told them, winking at Draco. "Shall we go?"

"In a sec," said Draco. "Teddy and I were just talking about Patronuses, and I'd love to see his. If that's alright, Teddy?"

Teddy smiled proudly. "Tell you what," said Harry, "you could send one to Ron and Hermione if you like, just to tell them we're on our way."

Teddy nodded, and produced his wand from his pyjama sleeve. He drew a long breath and closed his eyes, then cried "Expecto Patronum!" 

A luminous badger burst out of the end of his wand; it landed on the floor and looked up at him expectantly. "Go to Ron Weasley and tell him that Harry and Draco will be arriving in a few minutes," Teddy told it, and it immediately scampered effortlessly through the wall and vanished.

Draco found himself applauding. "A badger, eh? That was a very impressive Patronus, though. Well done."

"We've often wondered whether the badger is because he's a Hufflepuff, or whether he would have had a badger even if he'd been in a different house," commented Harry. "I don't suppose there's any way we'll ever know."

"It definitely got more solid when I was made Head Boy, though, didn't it, Harry?"

Draco raised his eyebrows. "You're Head Boy? Even more impressive. I can't imagine there's anyone better, though, so well done whoever decided it should be you."

Teddy grinned. "Well, I don't actually do much other than boss around the prefects and have meetings with McGonagall, but it'll look good on my CV, won't it?"

"It will," said Harry. "But we'll talk more tomorrow. We'd better get to Ron's house before he gets himself all worked up again. Are you ready, Draco?"

Draco nodded, and Harry grabbed a handful of Floo powder. "Pendennis View," he said, throwing it into the fire. He took hold of Draco's arm, and they both stepped into the flames.

The room in which they arrived was small but cosy. Bookshelves lined three of the walls, interrupted only by windows and the door. There were two armchairs by the fireplace, but the main piece of furniture was the desk under the window, which held a computer, printer and many piles of paper.

"In here!" came a shout from nearby. Harry squeezed Draco's hand and led him into the next room, where Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger – well, Weasley, probably, Draco corrected himself – were sitting together on a small settee. Two children were on another settee opposite them; the girl was reading, and the boy drawing. Draco thought at first that they were both red-headed, but on closer inspection realised that the boy's hair was actually brown. 

"Uncle Harry!" shouted the boy when he noticed them; he jumped up and ran to give the man a hug. 

"Hiya, Hugo," said Harry cheerfully. "Hello, Rosepetal."

The girl smiled. "Hello, Harpsichord."

"Oh, good one! I'm not giving you the point unless you can spell it, though," Harry informed her.

She rolled her eyes. "H-A-R-P-S-I-C-H-O-R-D, obviously. It's a keyboard instrument."

"Well done, Rose," said Hermione. "How many points are you up to now?"

"Twenty-nine," said Rose proudly. "And I have lots more words I've thought of."

"I look forward to hearing them," said Harry. "Remember, though, if you use one you've already used, I win."

"Be careful with him, Rosie," Ron warned her. "He does tend to win things. For the moment, though, would you two mind going upstairs? Your mum and I want to talk to Uncle Harry and his friend."

The children stood up obediently, but Harry held up his hand. "Hang on a minute," he said. "I'm sure your dad was going to introduce you to my friend before you go."

"Of course," said Ron, looking embarrassed. "Sorry. Rose, Hugo, this is Draco Malfoy. He was in the same year as all of us at Hogwarts. Malfoy, this is our daughter Rose and our son Hugo."

Rose looked sharply at Draco, who realised that she knew a lot of stories to go with his name; however, she merely said, "Pleased to meet you, Mr Malfoy," and held out her hand. 

Draco shook it, saying, "Please, call me Draco. And it's lovely to meet you too." He repeated the ritual with Hugo, and then both children left the room, closing the door behind them.

"Your children are delightful," said Draco politely. "How old are they?"

"Rose is nine and Hugo is seven," Hermione told him. "They're both very bright. I must admit I can't see how this game between Harry and Rose can end fairly, but it's good for her in the meantime."

"We may have to amend the rules as we go," said Harry, grinning. "Now, are you going to offer us a drink, or is this going to be another argument?"

Hermione raised her eyebrows at Ron, who stared back at her for a moment and then sighed. "No argument," he said. "And I'm sorry about this morning. What would you like to drink? Coffee OK?" They all nodded. "How d'you take yours, Malfoy?"

"Just milk, thanks," Draco said, and Ron left the room.

"I'm sorry too," said Hermione. "I didn't realise he'd gone until it was too late, or I would have stopped him, or at least come with him. But we've talked since, and he's OK with things now, I promise you. Draco, forgive me for not saying so before, but it's lovely to see you. Teddy says you're living in Italy? I've always wanted to go there."

Draco found himself gradually relaxing over the next couple of hours, as the conversation wandered from topic to topic but managed to avoid anything controversial (although at several points he was relieved that Harry and Hermione changed the subject just in time). Coffee was topped up several times, and cakes were brought out and consumed, prompting a discussion of Lucius Malfoy's baking skills. Hermione was clearly as fascinated by the thought as Harry was; Ron, somewhat predictably, refused to believe it until he witnessed it for himself.

"Well, I'm sure he and my mother would be only too delighted to have you round for tea," Draco told him. 

Ron shuddered. "Look, Malfoy, I'm not saying I don't believe you when you say he's changed. Harry and Teddy have both told me the same thing. But I'm not sure I actually want to _meet_ him. That guy's always given me the creeps."

"Well, I definitely want to meet him," announced Hermione. "He always gave me the creeps too, but that's all the more reason to see for myself that that person doesn't exist any more. I must admit it helps that they're not at Malfoy Manor, though. I don't think I ever want to see that place again."

"You never will," Draco assured her. "It's a housing estate now. But I'll ask them when would be good for you to visit. Is there any evening you're not free? I think they'll say any night is OK for them."

Hermione and Ron looked at each other, with Hermione raising her eyebrows again. "Oh, go on then," said Ron eventually. "If Teddy survived the experience and enjoyed it, I don't suppose they can be all bad. I'll come and see for myself. We do have quite a few things on in the evenings, though, don't we? When are we free?"

"Tomorrow night and Thursday night," said Hermione promptly. "Friday is their school concert, Saturday is my works do, Sunday we're at your mum's house, Monday is _your_ works do, next Tuesday…"

"Alright, alright, let's worry about one week at a time," said Ron. "Tomorrow or Thursday, then, to be going on with. Let us know. But if they don't want us to come, just tell us, OK?"

"I'm pretty sure they'll be really keen to see you," Harry told him. "You won't believe how different they are. I actually think you'll get on really well. But… listen, Draco and I want to get back to our stargazing. Thanks for the coffee and cakes. And… Draco, I've got a surprise for you. Are you OK to Apparate back to the tent on your own? I'll be ten minutes behind you at the most, I promise." 

Draco stood up, intrigued. "I'm not usually a fan of surprises," he warned. "It had better be a good one. But yes, I know the site well enough to get there on my own."

"It's a _very_ good surprise," Harry assured him. "I promise you'll love it. You'll need to be looking in the right direction to get the full effect, though. Let's see… can you sit in the chair you were sitting in last night? I promise you won't have to wait long."

He stood up and gave Draco a lengthy kiss. Draco, suspecting this was at least partly to test Ron, sneaked a glimpse at the Weasleys, and was surprised to find that they were both smiling fondly at each other. 

"See you in a few minutes," said Harry eventually, and Draco smiled and Apparated.

*******

As soon as Draco had vanished, Harry started taking his clothes off. 

"Listen, mate, I know it's warm in here, but it's not _that_ warm," said Ron, when Harry became topless. 

"Stand by the door, please, Hermione," said Harry, removing his shoes. "I don't want the kids to see me naked."

Hermione laughed and moved to the doorway. Ron, however, stood up in alarm. "Naked?!?" he cried. "Why the bloody hell are you getting naked? And why aren't you worrying about _my wife_ seeing you naked?"

"Oh, don't be ridiculous, Ron," said Hermione. "I've seen Harry naked loads of times. Although not for a few years, and never quite so, er, aroused as that," she added, as Harry pulled down his boxer briefs.

"When the bloody hell have you seen Harry naked?" demanded Ron. "And stop staring at him!"

"I will in a minute," said Hermione, grinning. "Looking good, Harry. As for when I've seen it before, we shared a tent for quite a while, if you remember. After the first couple of days we stopped bothering about trying to hide ourselves. There were more important things to worry about."

"Sorry, mate, I thought you knew," said Harry. "You don't have anything to worry about, though, I promise you. Hermione and I have never thought of each other like that. We're like brother and sister."

"Well, I suppose I do know that," admitted Ron. "OK then. But you haven't explained why you're naked _now_."

"I imagine that's probably part of his surprise for Draco," said Hermione.

"Correct," said Harry. "And I don't want to keep him waiting, so I need to get a move on. Where did my jeans go?"

He found them, and rooted in the pockets until he produced a string of fairy lights. "Help me drape these round myself," he instructed Ron, who shook his head but did as Harry asked.

Hermione watched with interest. "Wrap a bit of it round his penis a few times. And his testicles," she said. They both gaped at her. "What? It'll look amazing. Especially if he stays as hard as he is now."

Ron emitted a sort of strangled sound, but bent to do as his wife suggested. "I don't think that'll be a problem," Harry admitted. "Just the thought of his face is…"

"Yes, thank you, I've just touched another bloke's hard-on for the first time, and I'm wrapping your bollocks in fairy lights for bloody Malfoy, that's quite enough," Ron interrupted. "Please don't give me any more details, my head might explode."

"Well, if you want, I could…" started Hermione, but Ron glared at her. "How are you going to light them? Do you have a battery?"

"Yes, but I'm not sure where I can put it," said Harry. "Could you…"

"Of course," said Hermione, and reached for her wand. "Let me think. Shall we cut the battery off?"

"Yes, please, but not till we know your spell will work," said Harry. 

"I'm offended," Hermione told him. She passed a pair of scissors to Ron, who was winding the last of the lights around Harry's left ankle; he cut the battery pack off and secured the end of the cable with a quick knot. 

Hermione pointed her wand. "Lumos singulis," she said, and the fairy lights immediately lit up in assorted colours. She and Ron both applauded.

"That does look amazing," Ron admitted. "Hermione, put the light out so we can see better."

She flicked the switch on the wall behind her, and the room fell into darkness, lit only by the fairy lights enveloping Harry.

"Thanks, guys," he said. "I'll come back for my clothes tomorrow." With that, he Apparated.

"You know what?" said Hermione after a moment. "I think I want to see _you_ wrapped in fairy lights. I'll start the kids' tea while you go and look for some."

Ron grinned.


	21. Nebula

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.  
>  **Author's Notes:** I went on several astronomical camping trips when I was a teenager in the early 1980s, and the soundtrack to all those camping trips was a David Bowie greatest hits tape which one of the astronomers played repeatedly. So he was already in my head while I've been writing this, and it was while I was writing this chapter that the news of his death emerged. In tribute, [here's Ashes to Ashes](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMThz7eQ6K0%20), which was the last song on that tape and reached number one in the charts during my first camping trip.
> 
>  **Prompt for 21st December:** [Two glasses of red wine](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/men/2015/11/23/wine_3059966b-large_trans++pJliwavx4coWFCaEkEsb3kvxIt-lGGWCWqwLa_RXJU8.jpg)

Draco stood still and inhaled deeply on his return to the campsite. All of a sudden everything felt unreal, and he was hoping the brisk Yorkshire air would make his brain feel as if it was working properly. 

He stared at the sky near the south-western horizon, which was filled with a glorious array of colours. As his eyes became adapted to the dusk, he spotted the very thin crescent of the Moon, low in the southern sky. It wasn't dark enough for many stars to be visible yet, but there was a bright one only a degree or so above the horizon, in the reddest part of the sky where the Sun had just set. He puzzled over this for a minute – it was in the right sort of area to be Antares, but he was pretty sure Antares was never visible in the winter – until he realised, gleefully, that it must be Mercury. 

His next thought – that he hoped Harry got there so he could see it before it set – triggered the followup thought that he was supposed to be sitting in his deckchair. Luckily the chair was already facing the south (like all good observing chairs, he reminded himself), so he sank down into it and stared at the elusive planet, willing it not to set for a few more minutes.

In fact, it was only a few seconds later when Harry Apparated in, exactly in the direction of Draco's gaze. He stumbled, of course, but quickly regained his balance, and stood there grinning while Draco gaped.

"Bloody hell," said Draco eventually.

"You like it?" 

"That's putting it mildly, Just stand still for a minute so I can memorise this sight," said Draco. "In fact, let me take a photo. It's not every day you see Harry Potter wearing nothing but fairy lights. Also, the sky is amazing!" He rooted in his pocket and pulled out an iPhone, with which he snapped a few photos before putting it away.

"I didn't know you had a phone," Harry commented. He turned around to examine the darkening sky. "Wow, I see what you mean, those colours are incredible. And there's the moon. And… what's that, right on the south-western horizon? Is it a plane?"

"Watch it and you'll see," Draco advised him, coming over and wrapping his arms around him from behind. 

Harry did so, after turning his head for a quick kiss in greeting. "It's not moving," he said after a while. "Not a plane, then. Or a satellite. It could be Antares, I suppose… no, wait, that's not around at this time of year. Must be a planet. Bloody hell, it's bloody Mercury, isn't it?"

"I think it must be," said Draco. "I thought at first it might be Venus, but it's not quite bright enough, and then I remembered that Venus was due to set just before the Sun and Mercury just after the Sun."

"It's years since I've seen Mercury, you know," said Harry. "Even when I know it's supposed to be there, I never manage to see it. Either the sky's too cloudy, or there's too much light pollution, or there are buildings on the horizon."

"I don't think I've seen Mercury since we were at school," Draco said, thinking about it. "It's definitely the second most impressive thing I've seen this week."

"And the first is…?"

"You, obviously, as you're well aware, you smug git," Draco told him. "Thank you for my surprise. That's a memory that'll stay with me forever. You must be getting a bit cold by now, though?"

"Just a bit," Harry admitted. "I think I might get into the sleeping bag. Will you join me? Or do you want to eat first?"

"I don't think I ever need to eat again, after all the food we've been given today. I think I want to remove your fairy lights, though. They're very pretty, but I think they might get in the way," mused Draco. "Come and stand on the bed so at least your feet are warmer in the meantime."

Harry obeyed, looking with interest down at Draco, who knelt at his feet and untied the knot at the end of the string of lights. "No battery, I see," he commented. "Hermione?"

"Yes, and Ron… helped me… wrap them round me," said Harry, increasingly breathlessly. Draco hoped that this was due to the fact that he was planting tiny kisses along the path of the lights as he removed them – one of his better ideas, he congratulated himself privately.

"I knew you three were close, but I didn't realise you were _that_ close," murmured Draco, who had reached the top of Harry's left leg. The lights led from there into the cleft between his buttocks, so Draco parted them slightly with his thumbs and followed up his kisses with an exploratory lick from bottom to top. 

Harry shivered violently. "We… are… but I've never… asked them… to do… anything like this… beFORE." The last word ended on a strangled gasp, as Draco wondered what it would be like if he stuck his tongue into Harry's hole, and decided that this was a good time to find out. 

He was very impressed with the effect of his actions on Harry, and considered continuing them for a while, but his attention was drawn back to the fairy lights, which led around to the front of Harry's body. Draco remembered how thoroughly they were wrapped around Harry's cock and balls, and grinned as he moved round to investigate. He was very tempted to do more licking, but realised that his barely-there kisses were driving Harry wild, so he continued removing lights and pressing his lips very lightly to a succession of tiny patches of skin. Sure enough, he was only halfway up Harry's cock when Harry came.

"Sorry," Harry muttered, but Draco grinned, licked up the fluid, and continued, feeling ridiculously pleased with himself. By the time the lights were totally gone from Harry's bits, the man was a quivering wreck again, and was leaning on Draco's shoulder for support. Draco took pity on him and did the top half of his body much faster, throwing the still-glowing fairy lights onto the grass when he reached the end. 

"You're wearing far too many clothes," Harry pointed out, after Draco finished his ministrations with a lingering kiss.

"I did think about taking them off earlier, but I remembered you said you liked it," Draco reminded him.

"Well, I do, for a while… but I like you with your clothes off even more," Harry said. "Plus, I owe you an orgasm."

"You don't owe me anything," Draco told him. "I enjoyed that just as much as you did. But I'm not going to object if you want to get competitive about it. Either way, you should get in the sleeping bag before you freeze to death." 

Harry did so. "How about a glass of mulled wine?" he suggested, as Draco started removing items of clothing. "Might be nice to sip it and do a bit of stargazing while we get our breath back for round 2. It's in that flask in the big bag."

"Sure," said Draco, and paused in his undressing to go and look. He returned with the flask and two wine glasses, removed the last of his clothes, and crawled into the sleeping bag. 

Harry poured the wine, and they both sat up in bed to sip it, Harry wrapping himself around Draco. "Mercury's set," commented Draco after a few minutes. 

"So's Arcturus," said Harry. "The Summer Triangle's still there, though. And the Moon."

"There's Aldebaran, and the Pleiades," said Draco. "Seems weird not to see Orion, but it's only five o'clock."

"Damn," said Harry. "I've just had a brilliant idea, but it's too late now."

"What?"

"The thing with the fairy lights? How much more impressive would that have been if I'd arranged the lights so they made me look like Orion?"

Draco burst out laughing. "Pretty damn impressive, I have to say, but I think it would have taken you a bit longer than ten minutes," he said.

"True. And Ron would probably have freaked out even more when I made him help me. He was already unimpressed at having to touch my…"

"Your nebula?"

Harry laughed so much at this he spilled his wine.


End file.
